Law Commons^™

Catholic Constitutionalism From The Americanist Controversy To Dignitatis Humanae, Anna Su

Notre Dame Law Review

This Article, written for a symposium on the fiftieth anniversary of Dignitatis Humanae, or the Roman Catholic Church’s Declaration on Religious Freedom, traces a brief history of Catholic constitutionalism from the Americanist controversy of the late nineteenth century up until the issuance of Dignitatis Humanae as part of the Second Vatican Council in 1965. It argues that the pluralist experiment enshrined in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was a crucial factor in shaping Church attitudes towards religious freedom, not only in the years immediately preceding the revolutionary Second Vatican Council but ever since the late nineteenth century, …

Of Human Dignities, Mark L. Movsesian

Notre Dame Law Review

I proceed as follows. In Part I, I discuss the conflict between objective and subjective conceptions of human dignity, particularly in the context of same-sex marriage and “traditional values” resolutions at the UN Human Rights Council. In Part II, I discuss the conflict between individualist and corporate conceptions, focusing on proselytism and the right to convert. In Part III, I conclude with some observations on the implications of the disagreements I have identified.

The Tortuous Course Of Religious Freedom, Steven D. Smith

Notre Dame Law Review

This Essay, written for a conference at Notre Dame on Dignitatis Humanae, considers new challenges to and issues for religious freedom that have arisen recently in a world significantly changed from that of the 1960s, when the Declaration was first issued.

Return To Political Theology, Joshua D. Hawley

Notre Dame Law Review

My aim in what follows is to employ N.T. Wright’s powerful and provocative analysis of Paul’s political gospel as a critical perspective on the foundational claims of the Great Separation. Because the very possibility of political theology is disputed in many quarters, I begin in Part I with a defense of political theology as critical theory. In Part II, I turn to Paul’s political gospel, tracing Wright’s reconstruction of its central terms, including the Pauline critique of empire. In Part III, I explore—briefly—the affirmative political vision Pauline theology makes possible, with particular focus on that theology’s unique form of political …

Sacrifice, The Common Good, And The Catholic Lawyer, John J. Coughlin

Journal Articles

For some two decades since I entered law school, the connection between the philosophy of the human person and law has been of comparative interest to me. My interest was stimulated in no small part by the late Pope John Paul II, who urged that canon law reflect the essential elements of what it means to be human. Comparative legal study of the canon law of the Catholic Church with the law of the liberal state has convinced me of the importance of the understanding of the human person that underpins the law. Canon law and the Catholic intellectual tradition …

Assimilation, Toleration, And The State's Interest In The Development Of Religious Doctrine, Richard Garnett

Journal Articles

Thirty-five years ago, in the context of a church-property dispute, Justice William Brennan observed that government interpretation of religious doctrine and judicial intervention in religious disputes are undesirable, because when civil courts undertake to resolve [doctrinal] controversies..., the hazards are ever present of inhibiting the free development of religious doctrine and of implicating secular interests in matters of purely ecclesiastical concern. This statement, at first, seems wise and fittingly cautious, even unremarkable and obvious. On examination, though, it turns out to be intriguing, elusive, and misleading. Indeed, Justice Brennan's warning presents hazards of its own, and its premises - if …

Development Of Catholic Moral Doctrine: Probing The Subtext, M. Cathleen Kaveny

Journal Articles

A discussion on the contribution of Judge John T. Noonan’s works on moral doctrine to the study of Catholic moral theology. Professor Kaveny argues that Noonan’s writings have aided the development of Catholic moral doctrine by examining its rich living history and tradition. She notes that Noonan views the subject as a social historian who is interested in how Catholics have interpreted moral theology over time, tracing continuities and changes in their positions, and as a lawyer who is interested in learning how they have tried to find a balance between human dignity and the common good. Professor Kaveny addresses …

More's Skill, Thomas L. Shaffer

Journal Articles

Robert Bolt chose a phrase from a sixteenth century poet named Robert Whittinton for the title of his modem play about Thomas More: "[A] man of an angel's wit and singular learning; I know not his fellow. For where is the man of that gentleness, lowliness, and affability? And as time requireth a man of marvellous mirth and pastimes; and sometimes of as sad gravity: a man for all seasons."

Bolt's title suggests that he took a gamble on the possibility that More would have modern, universal appeal. I have been interested in how that gamble worked out. If you …

Should A Christian Lawyer Sign Up For Simon's Practice Of Justice?, Thomas L. Shaffer

Journal Articles

In The Practice of Justice, Professor William H. Simon describes justice in a way that differs from the way the Bible describes justice. The big difference is not so much what justice requires (although there is some difference there) as (i) how people decide what justice requires, and (ii) who the "people" are who decide what justice requires. Some of us Christians claim to understand "justice" as the Bible understands it. It may make a difference that, for biblical people, "justice" is righteousness, and righteousness, the Torah teaches, and Rabbi Hillel teaches, and Rabbi Jesus teaches, is practice following upon …

Maybe A Lawyer Can Be A Servant; If Not…, Thomas L. Shaffer

Journal Articles

Consider the way we American lawyers learn about the relationship between the church and the law: This grand constitutional and legal order we propose to serve is unfolded before us and built up in our minds and hearts; it comes to us out of multi-volume sets of course books, and, like the gods of Canaan, it comes to us as religious: Thomas Jefferson said America was God's New Israel; David Hoffman, the grandfather of legal ethics in America, spoke of the law as a temple and of us lawyers as priests who served in the temple; Law Day speakers commonly …

Christian Theology For Roman Catholic Law Schools, Thomas L. Shaffer, Robert E. Rodes Jr.

Journal Articles

Roman Catholic universities maintain law schools for theological purposes. This Article discusses the five steps to explaining the theological answer to why there are Catholic law schools—first, the presence of the law school is the presence of the church; second, the presence of the law school is the presence of service; third, the presence of the law school is a presence in the world; fourth, the presence of the law school in the world is enacted vicariously; and fifth, the presence of the law school in the world is a searching presence that reaches into the world to find out …

Christian Theories Of Professional Responsibility, Thomas L. Shaffer

Journal Articles

Consideration of the religious and moral significance of legal practice is a subject to which too little attention has been paid in American legal education. Louis M. Brown has been one of those few engaged in the teaching of law who has explored the ethical components of lawyering; his example has been a great influence on many of us. It seems appropriate, therefore, in this tribute to Louis M. Brown, to consider the role which Christian values may play in producing lawyers who are well-developed in interpersonal as in professional skills.

This essay will seek to relate Christian values to …