Christianity, Ethics and the Law

The Concept of Love in Christian Legal Thought
1. Auflage 2022
ISBN: 978-0-367-71005-7
Verlag: Taylor & Francis

Buch, Englisch, 256 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 540 g

Reihe: Law and Religion

This book examines how Christian love can inform legal thought. The work introduces love as a way to advance the emergent conversation between constructive theology and jurisprudence that will also inform conversations in philosophy and political theory.

Love is the central category for Christian ethical understanding. Yet, the growing field of law and religion, and relatedly law and theology, rarely addresses how love can shape our understanding of law. This reflects, in part, a common assumption that law and love stand in necessary tension. Love applies to the private and the personal. Law, by contrast, applies to the public and the political, realms governed by power. It is thus a mistake to envisage love as having anything but a negative relationship to law. This conclusion continues to govern Christian understandings of the meaning and vocation of law. The animating idea of this volume is that the concept of love can and should inform Christian legal thought. The project approaches this task from the perspective of both historical and constructive theology. Various contributions examine how such thinkers as Augustine, Aquinas, and Calvin utilised love in their legal thought. These essays highlight often neglected aspects of the Christian tradition. Other contributions examine Christian love in light of contemporary legal topics including civility, forgiveness, and secularism. Love, the book proposes, not only matters for law but can transform the terms on which Christians understand and engage it.

The book will be of interest to academics and researchers working in the areas of legal theory; law and religion; law and philosophy; legal history; theology and religious studies; and political theory.

Zielgruppe

Academic and Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Calo, Zachary R

Neoh, Joshua

Thompson, A Keith

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christentum/Christliche Theologie Allgemein
• Rechtswissenschaften Öffentliches Recht Staats- und Verfassungsrecht Staat und Kirche, Religions- und Kirchenrecht
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie
• Rechtswissenschaften Recht, Rechtswissenschaft Allgemein Rechtsgeschichte, Recht der Antike
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Denominationen
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Foreword – John Witte Jr.

List of contributors

Introduction

ZACHARY R. CALO, JOSHUA NEOH, AND A. KEITH THOMPSON

PART I Law and Love in Augustine, Calvin, and Luther?

1 John Calvin on the Law of Love

CONSTANCE YOUNGWON LEE

2 “To Heal the Wounds of Sinners”: Law, Love, and Forgiveness

ZACHARY R. CALO

3 Why Secularism Is No Option for a Christian Citizen: Augustine’s Analysis of Love in the City

RENÉE KÖHLER-RYAN

4 Why Lutheranism Is No Option for a Meaningful Jurisprudence of Love

AUGUSTO ZIMMERMANN

PART II Law, Love, and Political Theology

5 Law and Love in Monasticism

JOSHUA NEOH

6 The Law of Love as Principles of Civility: Secular Translation or Religious Contribution?

ALEX DEAGON

7 The Loving Sword: The Implications of Divine Simplicity for Civil Law

BENJAMIN B. SAUNDERS

8 Aquinas on Love, Law, and Happiness: The Interconnection between Divine Law, Human Law, and Rational Love

STEFANUS HENDRIANTO SJ

PART III The Ethics of Law and Love

9 From Alterity to Proximity: Emmanuel Levinas on the Natural Law of Love

JONATHAN CROWE

10 “Proving Contraries”: Joseph Smith on Law and Love

DONLU THAYER

11 From Coercion to Covenant: What Kind of Higher Law Did Jesus Have in Mind?

A KEITH THOMPSON

12 The Forgiveness of Love in Charity: Getting Conversationally Opened Up

PATRICK MCKINLEY BRENNAN

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Zachary R. Calo is Professor of Law at Hamad bin Khalifa University, Qatar. He is also Professor of Law (Adj.) at the University of Notre Dame Australia, Visiting Professor at The Open University (UK), Visiting Professor at Tashkent State University of Law (Uzbekistan), and Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University, Qatar, as well as Research Scholar in Law and Religion at Valparaiso University and Fellow of the Centre for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University.

Joshua Neoh is Associate Professor of Law at the Australian National University (ANU), Australia.

A. Keith Thompson is Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA), Australia.