Religion Law Commons^™

The Metaphorical Bridge Between Law And Religion, John Witte Jr.

Pepperdine Law Review

This Article explores the role of metaphors in shaping our thought and language in general, and in the fields of law and religion in particular. Drawing on modern cognitive theorists like George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, the Article distinguishes and illustrates the roles of “orientation,” “structural,” and “ontological” metaphors in everyday life and language. Drawing on jurists like Robert Cover and Steven Winter, it shows how metaphors work both in describing the law in terms like “the body,” and in prescribing the foundational beliefs and values on which the legal system depends. Finally, the Article explores the ample use of …

The Dutch Effect: Kuyper And Neo-Calvinism In Professor Cochran's Scholarship, David S. Caudill

Pepperdine Law Review

One of the obvious influences on Bob Cochran’s scholarship is the Dutch Calvinist tradition, especially as represented in the writings by or about Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920). Even though Cochran was neither Dutch nor a member of a Reformed church, Cochran found inspiration and compelling insights (with respect to legal processes and institutions) in the Dutch Calvinist tradition. This interest reflected Cochran’s generous ecumenism and his well-known respect for religious diversity. Three prominent conceptions—the trilogy of sphere sovereignty, antithesis, and common grace—provide a guide to Cochran’s recourse to Kuyper and Calvinism in his scholarly writing. Following a brief explanation of the …

Celebrating Robert Cochran And The Future Of "Embodied" Christian Legal Scholarship, Barbara Armacost

Pepperdine Law Review

The occasion for this Article is a festschrift for Professor Robert (“Bob”) Cochran. I celebrate Bob’s significant scholarly contributions to the maturing of Christian Legal Scholarship. He applied a Christian perspective to legal issues, hosted conferences, mentored Christian Legal Scholars, and edited books of essays featuring Christian perspectives on law. Bob’s work in this area had a huge influence on the flourishing of Christian Legal Scholarship. This Article considers the future of Christian Legal Scholarship. It enters an ongoing conversation (disagreement) between law Professors David Skeel and David Caudill. In a 2008 article, Skeel defined Christian Legal Scholarship so narrowly …

Bob Cochran On Law And Lawyering: A Catholic Perspective, Stephen M. Bainbridge

Pepperdine Law Review

This Essay is a contribution to a festschrift honoring Pepperdine law professor Robert Cochran. In addition to his many other professional accomplishments, Professor Cochran is a leading figure in the study of Law and Christianity. One strain of Law and Christianity scholarship focuses on normative critiques of substantive legal issues based on Christian theology. In other words, it seeks to make the civil law more moral; i.e., to conform Man’s Law to God’s Law. A second strain seeks to help lawyers deal with the difficulties inherent in being a Christian and a lawyer. As Cochran has put it, one might …

The Communitarian Work And Vision(S) Of Robert Cochran (And Thomas Shaffer), Richard W. Garnett

Pepperdine Law Review

Professor Robert Cochran’s work and thought were powerfully shaped by those of his friend, mentor, and teacher, the late Professor Thomas Shaffer, a towering figure in the religious lawyering movement. A leading theme in Shaffer’s writing, one that has continued through and been developed in Cochran’s, is “community.” This Essay explores and unpacks this theme and highlights several ways that the idea of “community” functions in their vision of the lawyer’s role and vocation.

Abraham Lincoln And The Cardinal Virtue Of Practical Reason, Brett G. Scharffs

Pepperdine Law Review

Practical wisdom is an elusive concept. This Article focuses on a case in which Abraham Lincoln, prior to his election as President, participated (or more accurately did not participate) to frame a discussion of what practical wisdom means and how it makes a difference for lawyers.

The Practice Of Law As Christian Discipleship, Nathan S. Chapman

Pepperdine Law Review

“Can the ordinary practice of law be a religious calling?” In a number of scholarly books and articles, as a teacher, and as a mentor, Robert Cochran has answered this question with a resounding “yes.” This Essay, part of a festschrift published in Bob’s honor by the Pepperdine Law Review, engages with his work to propose a framework of Christian ethics for reconceiving the practice of law as a form of Christian discipleship. It argues that Christians should understand the practice of law as participation in government-as-judgment, participation that is always fraught with the risks of deceit, injustice, and abuse …

The Beatitudes, Lawyers, And Bob Cochran, Amelia J. Uelmen

Pepperdine Law Review

Written on the occasion of a celebration of the work and scholarship of Bob Cochran, this reflection draws on his scholarship and also on his teaching and work to build vibrant communities of commitment, service, and scholarship at the intersection of religion, law, and professional life. Working with the text of the Beatitudes from the Gospel of Matthew, the essay highlights the value of how Bob Cochran has aimed not only to “do good,” but also to “be good” in a world and in a profession where it seems increasingly difficult to do so. His legacy offers a powerful inspiration …

"Agape" And The Life And Work Of Robert F. Cochran, Jr., Angela C. Carmella

Pepperdine Law Review

The life and work of Robert Cochran can be summed up in one word: discipleship. Professor Cochran’s work reflects deeply on Jesus’s words and ministry—His agapic love for all humanity—as they relate to the substance of law and its administration. Professor Cochran’s work establishes two important principles: the need to focus on Jesus’s love as the starting place for analysis and the need to reclaim justice as a central Christian concept. His many volumes help us to understand how it is possible to comprehend lawmaking as an act of agapic love. Further, they provide a roadmap for the Christian’s journey, …

The Professor As Institutional Entrepreneur, Roger P. Alford

Pepperdine Law Review

Law professors are all about ideas, and the creation of an institute, clinic, or center within a law school is the instantiation of an idea. Ideas embodied in law school institutions become crystallized in the fabric of a school, changing its culture, internalizing its values, and reflecting its priorities. Robert Cochran has helped to establish multiple institutes, centers, and clinics at Pepperdine Caruso Law School, and in so doing he has become the law school’s great serial entrepreneur. The institutes Cochran helped to establish have become laboratories to give expression to his ideas about the relationship between faith, ethics, and …

Ecumenical Evangelical Legal Thought: The Contributions Of Robert F. Cochran, Jr., William S. Brewbaker Iii

Pepperdine Law Review

This Essay organizes an assessment of Robert F. Cochran’s scholarly contributions around the theme of “ecumenical evangelical legal thought.” Professor Cochran’s work bears the hallmarks of evangelicalism in its emphasis on the Bible, its practical focus, and its willingness to cross institutional and theological lines. The Essay recounts some formative influences on Professor Cochran, discusses his methodology as a Christian scholar and specifically his use of the Bible in thinking about law, his work in legal ethics, and his work as a movement-builder. It concludes with some observations about the reconciliation of ecumenism and evangelicalism in Cochran’s work and its …

Festschrift Response: "With A Grateful Heart", Robert F. Cochran Jr.

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Celebrating The Work Of Professor Bob Cochran: An Introduction, Derek T. Muller

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Celebrating The Work And Life Of Bob Cochran, Paul L. Caron

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Brief Of Constitutional Law Scholars As Amici Curiae In Support Of Petitioners, David F. Forte, Ronald J. Colombo, Richard Epstein, Carl H. Esbeck, Robert P. George, Mary Ann Glendon, Brian Mccall, Stacy Scaldo, Steven Smith

Law Faculty Briefs and Court Documents

Lurking behind the regulatory issues presented by this appeal is a concerted effort to displace the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb et seq. ("RFRA"), with a novel approach that would trivialize a law's burden on religion. The Court should not indulge it.

The critics' argument suffers from several analytical defects that can be remedied by (1) a proper constitutional understanding of RFRA's relationship to the Establishment Clause; (2) an accurate understanding of how the Religion Clauses safeguard third-party interests; and (3) the correct application of these understandings to the Final Rules.

Brief Of Jeffrey D. Kahn As Amicus Curiae In Support Of Respondents (Tanzin V. Tanvir), Andrew T. Tutt, Jeffrey D. Kahn

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This is an amicus brief filed in the United States Supreme Court in support of the respondents in Tanzin v. Tanvir, a case concerning the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and allegations of egregious conduct by FBI agents retaliating against individuals who resist their encouragement to become informants in their religious communities by using the No Fly List.

Major Federal Court Victory For Religious Liberty Rights Of Immigrants' Rights Activists, Law, Rights, And Religion Project

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

On Monday afternoon, February 3, 2020, U.S. District Court judge Rosemary Márquez issued a sweeping opinion in which she granted the religious liberty defenses raised by four activists working with the Southern Arizona group No More Deaths/No Más Muertes. The opinion reversed an earlier ruling in the case by Magistrate Judge Bernardo Velasco in which he had found the activists guilty of violating federal law for leaving water and food in the desert for migrants in the Cabrieza Prieta National Wildlife Area, a federally controlled refuge in the Southern Arizona desert where human remains of migrants are frequently found. The …

Introductory Remarks To The 2019 Shachoy Symposium, Daniel Mark

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Reading Halakhah As A Secularist, Sanford Levinson

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Jurisprudence, Halakhah, And Moral Particularism, Amy J. Sepinwall

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.