Religion and Identity in an Age of IndividualizationTed A. Smith Excerpted from The End of Theological Education by Ted A. Smith (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company). Reprinted by permission of the publisher. Individualized Religion Social theorists have sometimes described modernity as relegating religion to the private sphere. A range of legal and cultural disestablishments did unhook religion…
Advanced Introduction to Law and ReligionFrank S. Ravitch This literature highlight is drawn from Advanced Introduction to Law and Religion by Frank S. Ravitch (Edward Elgar 2023). The full book is available here. The following is a short excerpt from my newest book, Advanced Introduction to Law and Religion (Edward Elgar 2023) pages 3-9. This book is…
Religious Diversity in Europe: Mediating the Past to the YoungRiho Altnurme, Elena Arigita, and Patrick Pasture The following is an introduction to Religious Diversity in Europe: Mediating the Past to the Young, edited by Riho Altnurme, Elena Arigita, and Patrick Pasture (Bloomsbury Publishing, March 2022). The full book is available here. This book is one result…
The Case for Parental Choice: God, Family, and Educational LibertyJohn E. Coons This is an adapted excerpt from Chapter 5 of The Case for Parental Choice: God, Family, and Educational Liberty (Notre Dame Press, 2023) by John E. Coons and is based on previously unpublished remarks to the C.S. Lewis Foundation in February 2006. In…
Historic Houses of Worship in Peril: Conserving Their Place in American Life By Thomas Edward Frank This excerpt from Historic Houses of Worship in Peril: Conserving Their Place in American Life is an introduction to our virtual conference, “Religion, Property Law, and the Crisis of Houses of Worship.” View selected videos and browse all essays…
Constituting Religion: Islam, Liberal Rights, and the Malaysian StateTamir Moustafa The following is an excerpt from Tamir Moustafa’s Constituting Religion: Islam, Liberal Rights, and the Malaysian State (Cambridge University Press, August 2018). This book is available to read via open access. Over half of all Muslim-majority countries have constitutions that proclaim Islam the religion of…
Federal Anti-Indian Law: The Legal Entrapment of Indigenous PeoplesPeter d’Errico The following is an excerpt from Peter d’Errico’s Federal Anti-Indian Law: The Legal Entrapment of Indigenous Peoples (Bloomsbury, September 2022). 2023 is the bi-centennial year of Johnson v. McIntosh, the case that put ‘Christian discovery’ into US property law in a way that simultaneously created…
The Polish Contribution to the Global Legal Culture Franciszek Longchamps de Bérier and Rafael Domingo The following is excerpted from the Introduction of Law and Christianity in Poland: The Legacy of the Great Jurists, edited by Franciszek Longchamps de Bérier and Rafael Domingo and out now from Routledge. Poland stands out considerably on the international scene for its…
Sacrifice and Conversion in the Early Modern Atlantic WorldMaria Berbara The following is an adapted excerpt from Sacrifice and Conversion in the Early Modern Atlantic World, edited by Maria Berbara. Available now from Harvard University Press. Sacrifice and Conversion in the Early Modern Atlantic World investigates the transit of texts, music, images, rituals and ideas…
Unbelievers: An Emotional History of DoubtAlec Ryrie Adapted from UNBELIEVERS: AN EMOTIONAL HISTORY OF DOUBT BY ALEC RYRIE, published by The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (2019). Why,” the philosopher Charles Taylor asks, “was it virtually impossible not to believe in God in, say, 1500 in our Western society, while in 2000 many of…