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Matthew T. Martens, a 1993 graduate of ���Ĺ���, won The Gospel Coalition’s 2023 First-Time Author Award for his new book, “Reforming Criminal Justice: A Christian Proposal.”

Martens, who graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law after earning a degree in accounting from ���Ĺ���, has worked his entire professional career in law, including as a clerk for former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court William Rehnquist. Martens also clerked for a judge with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit — the circuit where many Supreme Court justices served before assuming their current roles.

“Clerking for the former chief justice, I received a lot of highly personalized interaction from someone who’s been doing the job for a long time and doing it well,” Martens said. “As a result, I became a better writer, a better legal analyst and a better researcher.”

Martens followed his work in the nation’s capital by working for Latham & Watkins, a large international law firm in New Jersey, as a defense lawyer. When Michael Chertoff, a partner at Latham & Watkins, was appointed as the head of the criminal division of the U.S. Department of Justice by former president George W. Bush, Martens was invited along to work as Chertoff’s chief of staff.

With experience as a defense lawyer, Martens switched to become a federal prosecutor, and in 2010 he was named the chief litigation counsel for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a role he continued in for three years until he began his current work with WilmerHale, a prestigious international law firm.

In addition to his accounting and law degrees, Martens earned a Master of Arts in biblical studies from Dallas Theological Seminary, which has placed him in the unique position to write his book.

Martens’ book discusses biblical justice and compares what’s seen in Scripture to the way the American justice system operates. His legal and theological training aided him in creating a resource easily understood by anyone looking to delve into this topic.

“Many Americans don’t fully know how the justice system functions — it’s not like in the movies,” Martens said. “What I want the reader to understand is how it works so they can compare it with what Scripture says about justice, drawing their own conclusions about whether the system we’re operating is a system that is biblically just." 

At the start of his more than 25-year law career, Martens didn’t have the type of resources he would have liked to guide his thinking on legal justice from a biblical perspective. And now, he guides readers in his book to better understand the legal justice system from a biblical worldview.

In addition to the honor from The Gospel Coalition, Martens’ book received recognition as “the best I read this year” from Tim Challies on his blog, challies.com.

Martens’ book, “Reforming Criminal Justice: A Christian Proposal,” can be purchased on Amazon. Martens will be on the Cedarville Stories Podcast talking about his book and legal career beginning Wednesday, Feb. 21. The podcast can be found at your favorite podcast provider or cedarville.edu/cedarvillestories.

Located in southwest Ohio, ������ is a Baptist university with undergraduate programs in arts, sciences, and professional programs, and graduate programs. With an enrollment of 5,456 students in 175 areas of study, Cedarville is one of the largest private universities in Ohio and is recognized nationally for its authentic Christian community, rigorous academic programs, including its Bachelor of Science in accounting, and high graduation and retention rates. For more information about the University, visit cedarville.edu.