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Full-Text Articles in Law
Reconsidering Christianity As A Support For Secular Law: A Final Reply To Professor Calhoun, Wayne R. Barnes
Reconsidering Christianity As A Support For Secular Law: A Final Reply To Professor Calhoun, Wayne R. Barnes
Wayne R. Barnes
This symposium has revolved around Professor Calhoun’s article, which posits that it is completely legitimate, in proposing laws and public policies, to argue for them in the public square based on overtly religious principles. In my initial response, I took issue with his argument that no reasons justify barring faith-based arguments from the public square argument. In fact, I do find reasons justifying the prohibition of “faith-based,” or Christian, arguments in the public square—and, in fact, I find such reasons within Christianity itself. This is because what is being publicly communicated in Christian political argumentation is that if citizens comply …
The Idea Of Pollution, John C. Nagle
The Idea Of Pollution, John C. Nagle
John Copeland Nagle
Pollution is the primary target of environmental law. During the past forty years, hundreds of federal and state statutes, administrative regulations, and international treaties have established multiple approaches to addressing pollution of the air, water, and land. Yet the law still struggles to identify precisely what constitutes pollution, how much of it is tolerable, and what we should do about it. But environmental pollution is hardly the only type of pollution. Historically, the idea of pollution referred to a host of effects upon human environments. This remains evident in contemporary anthropological literature, which studies the pollution beliefs of cultures throughout …
The Evangelical Debate Over Climate Change, John Copeland Nagle
The Evangelical Debate Over Climate Change, John Copeland Nagle
John Copeland Nagle
In 2006, a group of prominent evangelicals issued a statement calling for a greater response to climate change. Soon thereafter, another group of prominent evangelicals responded with their own statement urging caution before taking any action against climate change. This division among evangelicals concerning climate change may be surprising for a community that is usually portrayed as homogenous and as indifferent or hostile toward environmental regulation. Yet there is an ongoing debate among evangelicals regarding the severity of climate change, its causes, and the appropriate response. Why? The answer to this question is important because of the increasing prominence of …
New Adventures Of Old Pauline Law, Tawia Baidoe Ansah
New Adventures Of Old Pauline Law, Tawia Baidoe Ansah
Tawia B. Ansah
This article examines the idea of law within two recent philosophical approaches to a theological text. Giorgio Agamben and Alain Badiou, two postmodern philosophers on the political left, look to the letters of St. Paul for the definition and extraction of the political subject. They look to Paul’s messianism and his conversion to discover, within their own philosophical projects, what is truly political within the Western philosophical tradition, for which Paul’s theology is unconditional. The article focuses on the conception of law that, in turn, derives from these projects. The article suggests that within both, despite the objective rejection of …
The Exorcism Motif In The Philosophy Of Sovereign Citizen Movements, John Ehrett
The Exorcism Motif In The Philosophy Of Sovereign Citizen Movements, John Ehrett
John Ehrett
I aim to deconstruct a key part of the sovereign citizen movement’s perspective on legitimate authority. I argue that the core underpinnings of sovereign citizen mentality (as applied) operate according to an anthropological framework similar to that used in an exorcism: namely, the ceremonial divestiture from an oppressive authority into whose service one has been subtly pressed.
Henry Knox And The Moral Theology Of Law Firms, Thomas L. Shaffer
Henry Knox And The Moral Theology Of Law Firms, Thomas L. Shaffer
Thomas L. Shaffer
No abstract provided.
Moral Theology In Legal Ethics, Thomas L. Shaffer
Moral Theology In Legal Ethics, Thomas L. Shaffer
Thomas L. Shaffer
No abstract provided.
Theory, Identity, Vocation: Three Models Of Christian Legal Scholarship, William Brewbaker
Theory, Identity, Vocation: Three Models Of Christian Legal Scholarship, William Brewbaker
William S. Brewbaker III
Recognizably Christian scholarship is becoming more commonplace in the American legal academy, yet little systematic attention has been given to fundamental questions of approach. This article highlights moments of continuity and discontinuity between Christian legal scholarship and its secular counterparts. Contrary to the expectations generated by contemporary political debate, the distinctive contribution of Christian legal scholarship is not primarily to provide ammunition for political programs of the right or the left, but to situate law and human legal practices within a larger story about the world. This article develops three models of Christian legal scholarship - theory, identity and vocation. …
Reinterpretations Of St. Paul's Concept Of Law, Tawia B. Ansah
Reinterpretations Of St. Paul's Concept Of Law, Tawia B. Ansah
Tawia B Ansah
The article is at the intersection of law, philosophy, and theology. I examine the work of Giorgio Agamben and Alain Badiou on Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. Both approach Pauline law formalistically, but with very different ideas about what law is. Whereas Agamben sees continuities, Badiou sees breaks and ruptures, between law and ideas traditionally extrinsic to the realm of the juridical (grace, faith, love, etc.). But both apprehend a political significance of Paul to juridical thought within late modernity (postmodern and post-secular). I analyze their work, therefore, for its relevance to legal theory.
Found Law, Made Law And Creation: Reconsidering Blackstone's Declaratory Theory, William Brewbaker
Found Law, Made Law And Creation: Reconsidering Blackstone's Declaratory Theory, William Brewbaker
William S. Brewbaker III
The subject of this paper is Blackstone's famous declaratory theory of law - the claim that judges find the law, rather than make it. Blackstone's claim is widely rejected in the legal academy, often because Blackstone is (wrongly) associated with the brooding omnipresence view of law rejected in cases like Erie, Guaranty Trust and Southern Pacific Co. v. Jensen. I argue that Blackstone's theory fails for other reasons - namely, because his account does not square well with law practice as it exists and because his distinction between legislative lawmaking and judicial declaration is ultimately unsustainable. Despite its faults, Blackstone's …
Thomas Aquinas And The Metaphysics Of Law, William Brewbaker
Thomas Aquinas And The Metaphysics Of Law, William Brewbaker
William S. Brewbaker III
Despite modernity's longstanding aversion to metaphysics, legal scholars are increasingly questioning whether law can be understood in isolation from wider questions about the nature of reality. This paper examines perhaps the most famous of metaphysical legal texts - Thomas Aquinas' still-widely-read Treatise on Law - with a view toward tracing the influence of Thomas' metaphysical presuppositions. This article shows that Thomas' account of human law cannot be fully understood apart from his metaphysics. Attention to Thomas' hierarchical view of reality exposes tensions between Thomas' "top-down" account of law and his sophisticated "bottom-up" observations. For example, Thomas grounds human law's authority …
Toward A Trinitarian Theory Of Products Liability, Amelia J. Uelmen
Toward A Trinitarian Theory Of Products Liability, Amelia J. Uelmen
Amelia J Uelmen
No abstract provided.