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This piece contributes to David Little’s claim that the right of self-defense is universally acknowledged by analyzing the subtle idea of self-defense in the book of Mencius, a Confucian text named for its author. This treatise was influential in premodern Japan and Korea, as well as in Chinese thought then and now. It is common…
“The Blaine Amendment was ‘born of bigotry.”’ Reasonable people can certainly disagree over whether Chief Justice John Roberts’ forceful words in the opinion of the five-to-four judgement in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Taxation, which produced seven different opinions, was the stake through the heart of the anti-Catholic Blaine Amendments that brought their jurisprudential reign…
Americans looking for a way forward in this national crisis are calling for prioritizing anti-racism, demilitarizing American society, and democratizing the political and legal system. To do so will require understanding which institutions are most in need of reform. My research on the American border suggests that border policy should be at the top of…
The images have already become iconic: militarized police using tear gas and rubber bullets to clear peaceful protesters from Lafayette Park, positioned across from the White House, so that President Trump and his entourage could walk to the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church for a photo op where the President is seen manhandling the Bible…
Great Christian Jurists in American History edited by Daniel L. Dreisbach and Mark David Hall This book is part of a 50-volume series on “Great Christian Jurists in World History,” exploring the interaction of law and Christianity through the biographies of 1,000 legal figures of the past two millennia. Commissioned by the Center for the…
Although the sudden emergence of a novel form of coronavirus might bring Martin Luther to mind, it is revealing that many apparently secular voices are thinking along lines laid down by the venerable John Calvin. Not in the sense that gloomy declarations of “total depravity” are making a comeback, no matter the willingness of many…
Photo by Alex Holyoake / Unsplash Growing up in the Black Church, I have been raised in a context in which call-and-response is invoked often. In call-and-response, a singer sings or a preacher issues a call, and others respond with an answer. One may greet another with “God is good all the time,” and the…
David Little has pioneered the study of religion, human rights, and religious freedom during 60 years of distinguished scholarly work at Yale, Harvard, Virginia, Georgetown, and the United States Institute of Peace. He has traced cardinal human rights principles from antiquity until today — with a special focus on the prescient contributions of Protestants, like…
The judgment of the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Bostock v. Clayton County, decided on June 15, 2020, is, to say the least, quite controversial. It relates to non-discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment practices and has been applauded by many who champion the legal protection of homosexual and transgender individuals. The…
Christianity and Criminal Law edited by Mark Hill QC, Norman Doe, R.H. Helmholz, and John Witte, Jr. This volume is one of several new introductions to Christianity and Law commissioned by the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. Each volume in the series is an anthology of some two dozen chapters written by leading scholars…