God's Joust, God's Justice

by Witte, John, Jr.

• ISBN13: 9780802844217
• ISBN10: 0802844219
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-10-30
• Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co

Summary

As players in the drama of human society, we are only dimly aware of the whole sweep of the story. While savage excess occasionally prevails, we still struggle to reflect God's image and order in our societies.Using law and religion as a pair of lenses, John Witte expertly surveys the stormy yet lush landscape of the western tradition. After a concise history of rights in the west, he then focuses on a diverse yet coherent series of landmarks, from Luther's "Freedom of a Christian" to contemporary Russian religious freedom, from battles over the First Amendment to the ongoing importance of marriage. Throughout, Witte's reflections center on the constant tension between religion and law, between church and state. God's Joust, God's Justice" provides a clear vista of the debates over law and religion in the west, enabling readers to competently proceed towards a more integrated understanding of these foundational elements of western democracy.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Abbreviations	xiii
Introduction: God's Joust, God's Justice	1	(30)
LAW, RELIGION, AND HUMAN RIGHTS
A Short History of Western Rights	31	(18)
Freedom of a Christian: Human Dignity, Liberty, and Equality in the Theology of Martin Luther	49	(14)
A Dickensian Era of Religious Rights: Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Contributions	63	(51)
Soul Wars in Russia: The Clash of Eastern and Western Christianity over Religion and Liberty	114	(29)
LAW AND RELIGION IN AMERICAN HISTORY AND TODAY
How to Govern a City on a Hill: Puritan Contributions to American Constitutional Law and Liberty	143	(26)
Religious Rights in Eighteenth-Century America: The Original Understanding of the First Amendment	169	(38)
That Serpentine Wall of Separation Between Church and State	207	(36)
Adams versus Jefferson: From Establishment to Freedom of Public Religion	243	(20)
The Three Uses of the Law: A Protestant Source of the Purposes of Criminal Punishment?	263	(32)
LAW, RELIGION, AND THE FAMILY
An Apt and Cheerful Conversation on Marriage	295	(27)
The Goods and Goals of Marriage in the Western Tradition	322	(42)
More Than a Mere Contract: Marriage As Contract and Covenant in Law and Theology	364	(22)
The Perils of Clerical Celibacy	386	(12)
Ishmael's Bane: The Sin and Crime of Illegitimacy Reconsidered	398	(25)
The Duties of Love: The Vocation of the Child in the Household Manual Tradition	423	(27)
Conclusion: The Challenges of Christian Jurisprudence in Modern Times	450	(16)
Afterword: The Cathedral of the Law	466	(2)
Permissions	468	(3)
General Index	471	(25)
Index to Biblical Sources	496