Since 1982, the Center for the Study of Law and Religion's publications in multiple languages have been the Center's most visible and enduring contribution to the global conversation about law and religion. CSLR now edits three book series and an international journal, and its faculty and research projects have produced more than 300 books published by leading university and trade presses. CSLR faculty, scholars, and students also publish widely in journals of law, the humanities, and social sciences, and have edited several journal symposia on discrete law and religion themes.
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Table Talk: Short Talks on the Weightier Matters of Law and Religion
John Witte Jr.
“Table talks” have long been a familiar genre of writing for jurists, theologians, politicians, and novelists. In this little volume, thirty sage reflections on how to thrive in law school and in the legal profession are offered: short commentaries on controversial matters of faith, freedom, and family; pithy sermons on difficult biblical texts about law and justice; and touching tributes to a few of his fallen heroes. Most of the thirty texts gathered here were
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Setting the Table: An Introduction to the Jurisprudence of Rabbi Yechiel Mikhel Epstein’s Arukh Hashulhan
Michael J. Broyde and Shlomo C. Pill
This book explains the major jurisprudential factors driving the halakhic jurisprudence of Rabbi Yehiel Mikhel Epstein, twentieth-century author of the Arukh Hashulchan—the most comprehensive, seminal, and original modern restatement of Jewish law since Maimonides. Reasoning inductively from a broad review of hundreds of rulings from the Orach Chaim section of the Arukh Hashulchan, the book teases out and explicates ten core halakhic principles that animate Rabbi Epstein’s halakhic decision-making. Along the way, it compares the
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Christianity and Global Law
Rafael Domingo and John Witte Jr.
This book explores both historical and contemporary Christian sources and dimensions of global law and includes critical perspectives from various religious and philosophical traditions. Two dozen leading scholars discuss the constituent principles of this new global legal order historically, comparatively, and currently. The first part uses a historical-biographical approach to study a few of the major Christian architects of global law and transnational legal theory, from St. Paul to Jacques Maritain. The second part distills
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Law, Religion and the Environment in Africa
M. Christian Green and Muhammed Haron
This volume explores themes of ecotheology, ecofeminism, environmental pollution and degradation, climate change, human and environmental rights, sustainable development, human-animal relations through totem and taboo, sacred sites and spaces, and other environmental topics in ways that add immeasurably to the study of African environmentalisms and the interaction of law and religion. In terms of religion, the capability of humans not only to sin and destroy the earth, but also to repair and redeem it, is
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Christianity and Criminal Law
Mark Hill QC, Norman Doe, RH Helmholz, and John Witte Jr.
This collection, by leading legal scholars, judges and practitioners, together with theologians and church historians, presents historical, theological, philosophical and legal perspectives on Christianity and criminal law. Following a Preface by Lord Judge, formerly Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, and an introductory chapter, the book is divided into four thematic sections. Part I addresses the historical contributions of Christianity to criminal law drawing on biblical sources, early church fathers and canonists, as far
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The Impact of Religion on Character Formation, Ethical Education and the Communication of Values in Late Modern Pluralistic Societies
Michael Welker, John Witte Jr., and Stephen Pickard
Pluralism has become the defining characteristic of modern societies. Individuals with differing values clamor for equality. Organizations and groups assert particular interests. Social movements flourish and fade. Some see in this clash of principles and aims the potential for a more just human community, while others fear the erosion of enduring culture. Yet beneath this welter stand powerful and pervasive institutions, whose distinctive norms profoundly shape our moral commitments and character—notably the family, the market,
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Sex in the Garden: Consensual Encounters Gone Bad
Michael J. Broyde and Reuven Travis
In the #MeToo times in which we live, there are few hard and fast rules that govern personal encounters and sexual liaisons. Consent, so long as it is neither coerced nor forced, dictates all. Astute students of the Bible will see this aspect of our current social milieu reflected in the book of Genesis. Genesis is not a book about laws. There are no "thou shall" or "thou shall not" commandments given over by God
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Great Christian Jurists in American History
Daniel L. Dreisbach and Mark David Hall
From the early days of European settlement in North America, Christianity has had a profound impact on American law and culture. This volume profiles nineteen of America's most influential Christian jurists from the early colonial era to the present day. Anyone interested in American legal history and jurisprudence, the role Christianity has played throughout the nation's history, and the relationship between faith and law will enjoy this worthy and unique study. The jurists covered in
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Church, State, and Family: Reconciling Traditional Teachings and Modern Liberties
John Witte Jr.
This book defends the fundamental place of the marital family in modern liberal societies. While applauding modern sexual freedoms, John Witte, Jr. also defends the traditional Western teaching that the marital family is an essential cradle of conscience, chrysalis of care, and cornerstone of ordered liberty. He thus urges churches, states, and other social institutions to protect and promote the marital family. He encourages reticent churches to embrace the rights of women and children, as
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The Distinctiveness of Religion in American Law: Rethinking Religion Clause Jurisprudence
Kathleen A. Brady
In recent decades, religion's traditional distinctiveness under the First Amendment has been challenged by courts and scholars. As America grows more secular and as religious and nonreligious convictions are increasingly seen as interchangeable, many have questioned whether special treatment is still fair. In its recent decisions, the Supreme Court has made clear that religion will continue to be treated differently, but we lack a persuasive account of religion's uniqueness that can justify this difference. This
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Roman Law: An Introduction
Rafael Domingo
Roman Law: An Introduction offers a clear and accessible introduction to Roman law for students of any legal tradition. In the thousand years between the Law of the Twelve Tables and Justinian’s massive Codification, the Romans developed the most sophisticated and comprehensive secular legal system of Antiquity, which remains at the heart of the civil law tradition of Europe, Latin America, and some countries of Asia and Africa. Roman lawyers created new legal concepts, ideas,
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Great Christian Jurists in Spanish History
Rafael Domingo and Javier Martínez-Torrón
The Great Christian Jurists series comprises a library of national volumes of detailed biographies of leading jurists, judges and practitioners, assessing the impact of their Christian faith on the professional output of the individuals studied. Spanish legal culture, developed during the Spanish Golden Age, has had a significant influence on the legal norms and institutions that emerged in Europe and in Latin America. This volume examines the lives of twenty key personalities in Spanish legal
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Religious Liberty, Volume 3: Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, Same-Sex Marriage Legislation, and the Culture Wars
Douglas Laycock
One of the most respected and influential scholars of religious liberty in our time, Douglas Laycock has argued many crucial religious-liberty cases in the United States Supreme Court. His noteworthy scholarly and popular writings are being collected in five comprehensive volumes under the title Religious Liberty. This third volume presents a documentary history of efforts to enact and implement state and federal Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, to include religious-liberty protections in same-sex marriage legislation, and
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Religious Liberty, Volume 4: Federal Legislation after the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, with More on the Culture Wars
Douglas Laycock
One of the most respected and influential scholars of religious liberty in our time, Douglas Laycock has argued many crucial religious-liberty cases in the United States Supreme Court. His noteworthy scholarly and popular writings are being collected in five comprehensive volumes under the title Religious Liberty. This fourth volume presents a documentary history of the effort to replace the Religious Freedom Restoration Act with the Religious Liberty Protection Act, an effort that failed but led
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Religious Liberty, Volume 5: The Free Speech and Establishment Clauses
Douglas Laycock
One of the most respected and influential scholars of religious liberty in our time, Douglas Laycock has argued many crucial religious-liberty cases in the United States Supreme Court. His noteworthy scholarly and popular writings are being collected in five comprehensive volumes under the title Religious Liberty. In this final volume Laycock documents the use of the Constitution’s Free Speech Clause and Establishment Clause in legal briefs, scholarly and popular articles, House testimonies, and written debates.
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Under Caesar's Sword: How Christians Respond to Persecution
Daniel Philpott and Timothy Samuel Shah
The global persecution of Christians is an urgent human rights issue that remains underreported. This volume presents the results of the first systematic global investigation into how Christians respond to persecution. World-class scholars of global Christianity present first-hand research from most of the sites of the harshest persecution as well as the West and Latin America.
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Pagans and Christians in the City: Culture Wars from the Tiber to the Potomac
Steven D. Smith
Traditionalist Christians who oppose same-sex marriage and other cultural developments in the United States wonder why they are being forced to bracket their beliefs in order to participate in public life. This situation is not new, says Steven D. Smith: Christians two thousand years ago faced very similar challenges. Picking up poet T. S. Eliot’s World War II–era thesis that the future of the West would be determined by a contest between Christianity and “modern
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The Life to Come: Re-Creating Retirement
Steven M. Tipton
What must we do to make our dreams come true? What can we do together to keep the promise of the American Dream? What should we do when so many of us have saved so little? Retirement not only offers a time to rest from our labors and relax with family and friends--to travel, play, and have fun--but it beckons us to find our true calling in action, peace of mind in reflection, the spirit moving in the moment of each day, and the grace of God in prayer and love of neighbor.
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Libertad Religiosa en Estados Unidos: Historia de un experimento Constitucional
John Witte Jr. and Joel A. Nichols
La constitución de E.U.A. ha llegado a ser muy importante en el desarrollo de los derechos de las personas. Especialmente, en la primera de sus enmiendas —primera en muchos sentidos— que trata sobre la libertad religiosa, supuso un cambio de paradigmas. Mucha experiencia se puede sacar de este “experimento norteamericano”.
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The Protestant Reformation of the Church and the World
John Witte Jr. and Amy Wheeler
From a distinguished assembly of twelve internationally acclaimed scholars comes this rich, interdisciplinary study that explores the Protestant Reformation and its resultant effects on the church as well as the world. The Reformation extended from the church to revolutionize art, music, literature, architecture, and aesthetics and transformed economics, trade, and banking; these transformations shifted power away from the church to the state as they unleashed radical new campaigns for freedom, equality, democracy, and constitutional order.
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