“My Body, Their Baby: A Progressive Christian Vision for Surrogacy”Grace Y. Kao Nearly four decades after the In re Baby M case stimulated widespread debate in the United States, the legal and religious debates over surrogacy continue. Surrogacy laws in the U.S. vary widely by state, and Pope Francis recently made international headlines by calling…
The Oxford Handbook of Christianity and LawJohn Witte, Jr. and Rafael Domingo This text is excerpted in part from the front matter of the Oxford Handbook of Christianity and Law, edited by John Witte, Jr. and Rafael Domingo (New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023) and is used herein with permission. This hefty new volume, over…
Table Talks on Law and ReligionJohn Witte, Jr. This is an excerpt from John Witte, Jr.’s open access book, Table Talk: Short Reflections on the Weightier Matters of Law and Religion (Leiden: Brill, 2023). “Table talks” have long been a familiar genre of writing for jurists, theologians, politicians, and novelists. In this little volume, leading…
Religious Accommodation and its LimitsFarrah Raza On what grounds should religious accommodation claims be limited? When do religious claims harm the autonomy of others? This book proposes an original model of religious accommodation which can be applied in secular liberal democracies where religious diversity has been a hotly contested issue. Addressing the complex question of…
Human Rights and Orthodox Christianity: Learning from our DifferencesJohn Witte, Jr. This essay was originally published on November 3, 2023 as a chapter in The Legal Thought of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, edited by Norman Doe and Dimitrios Nikiforos. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide, has thought profoundly about the…
Buildings of Worship as Cultural Heritage in Italy – New Scenarios for the Management and Reuse of Catholic Churches Between Canon Law and State LawDavide Dimodugno Excerpted and translated from Gli edifici di culto come beni culturali in Italia. Nuovi scenari per la gestione e il riuso delle chiese cattoliche tra diritto canonico e diritto statale…
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…