Canopy Forum

“De-Mystifying the Sino-Vatican Agreement: What Post-Vatican II Agreements Reveal About Law, Papal Diplomacy, and China” by Thomas Ching Wei Tu (凃京威)

Sep 8, 2026Canopy ForumEssaysAsia (Geography), Ching Wei Tu, Thomas, Christianity, Politics, September 2026

The National Cathedral Church of China in Shanghai, China by 钉钉 (CC-BY-SA4.0) In September 2018, the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China signed a historic, but largely secret Provisional Agreement on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China. Provisional treaties made by the Holy See are signed, but not authorized for public disclosure.…

“What distinguishes humans from AI robots? An Islamic perspective” by Mariam al-Attar

Sep 4, 2026Canopy ForumEssaysal-Attar, Mariam, Ethics, Islam, Religious Law and Legal Systems, September 2026

ChatGPT Rendering of AI via Wikimedia Commons (US-PD). In recent decades, philosophers have intensely debated the meaning of personhood and what it means to be human. Some have sought to blur the lines between human beings and non-human animals, while others challenge the distinction between humans and machines. The rise of “enhanced humans” and AI…

“Going Dutch with the American Founders” by John Witte, Jr.

Sep 2, 2026Canopy ForumEssaysConstitutional Law, Europe (Geography), History, North America (Geography), September 2026, Witte Jr., John

Last page of the Union of Utrecht, 1579, Nationaal Archief (US-PD) This article is part of a forthcoming series on the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. In his Pulitzer Prize-winning volume on The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1967), Harvard historian Bernard Bailyn pointed to five major sources that helped drive the American revolutionaries…

“Traces of Ancient Rome in the Declaration of Independence” by Umberto Vincenti

Aug 26, 2026Canopy ForumSeriesAugust 2026, Constitutional Law, Europe (Geography), History, North America (Geography), Vincenti, Umberto

“Gallery of Views of Ancient Rome” by Giovanni Paolo Pannini, 1758 (US-PD-Art). This article is part of a forthcoming series on the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The issue of the cultural foundations of the Founding Fathers and of American constitutionalism in general is, perhaps, more apparent than real and, in any case,…

“A Missing Century of Law and Education without Religion: 101 Years After Pierce” by Mary Elizabeth Marquardt

Aug 25, 2026Canopy ForumEssaysAugust 2026, Catholicism, Constitutional Law, Marquardt, Mary Elizabeth, North America (Geography)

St. Mary’s Academy, Image Courtesy of SNJM Archives. This week, the first of the state of Oregon’s public schools will open their doors to a new school year. Teachers will reenter their classrooms to unfamiliar students, filled with the emotions of the fall’s start. In the next few weeks, the state’s private schools will join…

“When the State Becomes Messiah: The Rise of Jewish Dominionism” by J. Shawn Landres

Aug 13, 2026Canopy ForumEssaysAsia (Geography), August 2026, Judaism, Landres, J. Shawn, Religion and State

Photo by Asher Koralik, Dan Hadani collection / National Library of Israel / The Pritzker Family National Photography Collection (CC-BY-4.0) The campaign for the next Israeli Knesset is unfolding in two contexts. One is the shadow of conflict and failure: populist judicial reform that brought hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets from January to October of 2023,…

“Why So Many Churches Are Turning To Bankruptcy to Reorganize” by Pamela Foohey

Aug 10, 2026Canopy ForumLiterature Highlights“Other”, August 2026, Christianity, Foohey, Pamela, North America (Geography)

Why So Many Churches Are Turning To Bankruptcy to Reorganizeby Pamela Foohey The following is an introductory essay to Pamela Foohey’s forthcoming book, Forgive Us Our Debts: How Black Churches Use Bankruptcy to Survive (University of Chicago Press, 2026). Foohey’s book will be published on September 21, 2026. I never meant to write a book…

“Sanctuary in America: How Activists Defied the Government and Defended Immigrants–And Why It Still Matters” by Lloyd D. Barba and Sergio M. González

Aug 7, 2026Canopy ForumLiterature HighlightsAugust 2026, Barba, Lloyd D., Christianity, González, Sergio M., Immigration Law, North America (Geography)

Sanctuary in America: How Activists Defied the Government and Defended Immigrants–and Why It Still MattersLloyd D. Barba and Sergio M. González This article includes excerpts from Sanctuary in America: How Activists Defied the Government and Defended Immigrants—And Why It Still Matters by Lloyd D. Barba and Sergio M. González and published by Oxford University Press in…

“From the Sacred Wall to the Rights-Permeated Border: Reading Heaven Has a Wall from Mediterranean Europe” by Alessandro Ferrari

Aug 4, 2026Canopy ForumEssaysAugust 2026, Europe (Geography), Ferrari, Alessandro, Human Rights / Civil Rights, Immigration Law

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, visited the migrant hotspot in Lampedusam, Italy © European Union, 2026 (CC BY 4.0). I would like to read Elizabeth Shakman Hurd’s Heaven Has a Wall from the perspective of Mediterranean Europe, and more specifically from Italy. My aim is to ask what happens when the…

“What the Religious Liberty Commission and Their Hearings Revealed” by Andrew Paul Smith

Jul 30, 2026Canopy ForumEssaysJuly 2026, North America (Geography), Politics, Religious Freedom, Smith, Andrew Paul

Museum of the Bible by Ajay Suresh (CC BY 2.0). People have different ideas of religion, and what makes religion important; people, furthermore, have different ideas of how religion is being oppressed in society. Thus, if one were to, say, form a commission focused on religious liberty–why don’t we call it the Religious Liberty Commission…

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