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Crumbs From The Table: The Syrophoenician Woman And International Law, Mark Chinen

Mark A. Chinen

International law has been criticized, not just for its formal incoherence, but for its alleged complicity in the exclusion of large numbers of people from the benefits and processes of the international system. In this Article I consider a story from the New Testament for what it might say about those critiques. A woman of Syrophoenician origin, whose daughter is possessed by an evil spirit, asks Jesus for help. Jesus protests, “First let the children eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” The woman replies, “Yes, Lord, …