Christianity and Law: An Introduction

by Edited by John Witte, Jr. , Frank S. Alexander

• ISBN13: 9780521697491
• ISBN10: 0521697492
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-06-02
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

What impact has Christianity had on the law from its beginnings to the present day? This introduction explores the main legal teachings of Western Christianity, set out in the texts and traditions of scripture and theology, philosophy and jurisprudence. It takes up the weightier matters of the law that Christianity has profoundly shaped - justice and mercy, rule and equity, discipline and love - as well as more technical topics of canon law, natural law, and state law. Some of these legal creations were wholly original to Christianity. Others were converted from Jewish and classical traditions. Still others were reformed by Renaissance humanists and Enlightenment philosophies. But whether original or reformed, these Christian teachings on law, politics and society have made and can continue to make fundamental contributions to modern law in the West and beyond.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. ix
List of contributors	p. xii
Preface	p. xiv
Introduction	p. 1
Law and religion in Judaism	p. 33
Law in early Christianity	p. 53
Western canon law	p. 71
Natural law and natural rights	p. 89
Conscientious objection, civil disobedience, and resistance	p. 105
The Christian sources of general contract law	p. 125
Proof, procedure, and evidence	p. 143
Family law and Christian jurisprudence	p. 163
Poverty, charity, and social welfare	p. 185
Property and Christian theology	p. 205
Christian love and criminal punishment	p. 219
Christianity and human rights	p. 237
Religious liberty	p. 249
Modern church law	p. 271
Religious organizations and the state: the laws of ecclesiastical polity and the civil courts	p. 293
Christianity and the large-scale corporation	p. 311
Index to biblical texts	p. 329
General index	p. 333
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