Christianity and Law: An Introduction

Description

What impact has Christianity had on the law from its beginnings to the present day? This introduction explores the main legal teachings of Western Christianity, set out in the texts and traditions of scripture and theology, philosophy and jurisprudence. It takes up the weightier matters of the law that Christianity has profoundly shaped - justice and mercy, rule and equity, discipline and love - as well as more technical topics of canon law, natural law, and state law. Some of these legal creations were wholly original to Christianity. Others were converted from Jewish and classical traditions. Still others were reformed by Renaissance humanists and Enlightenment philosophers. But whether original or reformed, these Christian teachings on law, politics and society have made and can continue to make fundamental contributions to modern law in the West and beyond.

John Witte, Jr is Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law and Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. His many publications include The Reformation of Rights: Law, Religion and Human Rights in Early Modern Calvinism (2007) and Law and Protestantism: The Legal Teachings of the Lutheran Reformation (2002). Frank S. Alexander is Professor of Law and Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. He is co-editor with John Witte Jr. of The Teachings of Modern Christianity on Law, Politics and Human Nature (2006).

'This volume provides an authoritative introduction to some of the legal teachings of Western Christian tradition - as set out in the texts and traditions of Scripture and theology, philosophy and jurisprudence. ... there will be few readers who do not come away having learned more and having been inspired to think more deeply on the past and continuing impact of Christianity on the law.' Ecclesiastical Law Journal 'The editors are to be congratulated in bringing together within a single cover material which is authoritative, incisive and provocative. I anticipate that this volume will soon find itself on the bookshelves of law school libraries and theological colleges alike, and it will readily take its place as the first port of call on reading lists across a broad range of subjects ...' Ecclesiology '... the volume's topic and goal are laudable, and the result is a useful entry point into the multiconfessional nature of Christian natural law thought.' Journal of Markets & Morality