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Around the Web

Here are some interesting law & religion stories from around the web this week:

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Doe, “Christian Law: Contemporary Principles”

41J5pTXZqVL._SY300_This September, Cambridge University Press will publish Christian Law: Contemporary Principles by Norman Doe (Cardiff University). The publisher’s description follows.

Christian Law: Contemporary Principles offers a detailed comparison of the laws of churches across ten distinct Christian traditions worldwide: Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Reformed, Presbyterian, United, Congregational and Baptist. From this comparison, Professor Doe proposes that all denominations of the faith share common principles in spite of their doctrinal divisions; and that these principles reveal a concept of ‘Christian law’ and contribute to a theological understanding of global Christian identity. Adopting a unique interdisciplinary approach, the book provides comprehensive coverage on the sources and purposes of church law, the faithful (lay and ordained), the institutions of church governance, discipline and dispute resolution, doctrine and worship, the rites of passage, ecumenism, property and finance, as well as church, State and society. This is an invaluable resource for lawyers and theologians who are engaged in ecumenical and interfaith dialogue, showing how dogmas may divide but laws link Christians across traditions.

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Cianitto, Durham, Ferrari & Thayer (eds.), “Law, Religion, Constitution”

9781472416131This August, Ashgate will publish Law, Religion, Constitution: Freedom of Religion, Equal Treatment, and the Law edited by Cristiana Cianitto (University of Milan), W. Cole Durham Jr. (BYU), Silvio Ferrari (University of Milan), and Donlu Thayer (BYU). The publisher’s description follows.

What is the place assigned to religion in the constitutions of contemporary States? What role is religion expected to perform in the fields that are the object of constitutional regulation? Is separation of religion and politics a necessary precondition for democracy and the rule of law? These questions are addressed in this book through an analysis of the constitutional texts that are in force in different parts of the world.

Constitutions are at the centre of almost all contemporary legal systems and provide the principles and values that inspire the action of the national law-makers. After a discussion of some topics that are central to the constitutional regulation of religion, the book considers a number of national systems covering countries with a variety of religious and cultural backgrounds. The final section of the book is devoted to the discussion of the constitutional regulation of some particularly controversial issues, such as religious education, the relation between freedom of speech and freedom of religion, abortion, and freedom of conscience.

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Perry, “Human Rights in the Constitutional Law of the United States”

9781107666085This July, Cambridge University Press will publish Human Rights in the Constitutional Law of the United States, by Emory’s Michael Perry The publisher’s description follows.

In the period since the end of the Second World War, there has emerged what never before existed: a truly global morality. Some of that morality – the morality of human rights – has become entrenched in the constitutional law of the United States. This book explicates the morality of human rights and elaborates three internationally recognized human rights that are embedded in U.S. constitutional law: the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment; the right to moral equality; and the right to religious and moral freedom. The implications of one or more of these rights for three great constitutional controversies – capital punishment, same-sex marriage, and abortion – are discussed in-depth. Along the way, Michael J. Perry addresses the question of the proper role of the Supreme Court of the United States in adjudicating these controversies.

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Hammer & Safi (eds.), “The Cambridge Companion to American Islam”

9780521175524This July, Cambridge University Press will publish The Cambridge Companion to American Islam, edited by Juliane Hammer and Omid Safi (both at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill). The publisher’s description follows.

The Cambridge Companion to American Islam offers a scholarly overview of the state of research on American Muslims and American Islam. The book presents the reader with a comprehensive discussion of the debates, challenges, and opportunities that American Muslims have faced through centuries of American history. This volume also covers the creative ways in which American Muslims have responded to the myriad serious challenges that they have faced and continue to face in constructing a religious praxis and complex identities that are grounded in both a universal tradition and the particularities of their local contexts. The book introduces the reader to some of the many facets of the lives of American Muslims that can only be understood in their interactions with Islam’s entanglement in the American experiment.

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Around the Web This Week

Some interesting law & religion stories from around the web this week:

Posted on by JCPW

Around the Web This Week

Some interesting law & religion stories from around the web this week:

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Chakrabarty, “Confluence of Thought”

9780199951239This August, Oxford University Press will publish Confluence of Thought: Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. by Bidyut Chakrabarty (University of Delhi). The publisher’s description follows.

While much has been written about the Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., never before has anyone compared the social and political origins and evolution of their thoughts on non-violence. In this path-breaking work, Bidyut Chakrabarty argues that there is a confluence between Gandhi and King’s concerns for humanity and advocacy of non-violence, despite the very different historical, economic and cultural circumstances against which they developed their ideas. At the same time, he demonstrates that both thinkers were truly shaped by their historical moments, evolving their approaches to non-violence to best advance their respective struggles for freedom.

Gandhi and King were perhaps the most influential individuals in modern history to combine religious and political thought into successful and dynamic social ideologies. Gandhi emphasized service to humanity while King, who was greatly influenced by Gandhi, pursued religion-driven social action. Chakrabarty looks particularly at the way in which each strategically used religious and political language to build momentum and attract followers to their movements. The result is a compelling and historically entrenched view of two of the most important figures of the twentieth century and a thoughtful meditation on the common threads that flow through the larger and enduring nonviolence movement.

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D’Costa, Evans, Modood & Rivers (eds.), “Religion in a Liberal State”

xlThis August, Cambridge University Press will publish Religion in a Liberal State edited by Gavin D’Costa, Malcolm Evans, Tariq Modood, and Julian Rivers (all University of Bristol). The publisher’s description follows.

As religion has become more visible in public life, with closer relations of co-operation with government as well as a force in some political campaigns, its place in public life has become more contested. Fudged compromises of the past are giving way to a desire for clear lines and moral principles. This book brings the disciplines of law, sociology, politics and theology into conversation with one anther to shed light on the questions thrown up by ‘religion in a liberal state’. It discusses practical problems in a British context, such as the accommodation of religious dress, discrimination against sexual minorities and state support for historic religions; considers legal frameworks of equality and human rights; and elucidates leading ideas of neutrality, pluralism, secularism and public reason. Fundamentally, it asks what it means to be liberal in a world in which religious diversity is becoming more present and more problematic.

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Crouch, “Law and Religion in Indonesia”

This September, Routledge will publish Law and Religion in Indonesia: Faith, Conflicts and the Courts by Melissa Crouch (National University of Singapore). The publisher’s description follows.

Understanding and managing inter-religious relations, particularly between Muslims and Christians, presents a challenge for states around the world. This book investigates legal disputes between religious communities in the world’s largest majority-Muslim, democratic country, Indonesia. It considers how the interaction between state and religion has influenced relations between religious communities in the transition to democracy.

The book presents original case studies based on empirical field research of court disputes in West Java, a majority-Muslim province with a history of radical Islam. These include criminal court cases, as well as cases of judicial review, relating to disputes concerning religious education, permits for religious buildings and the crime of blasphemy. The book argues that the democratic law reform process has been influenced by radical Islamists because of the politicization of religion under democracy and the persistence of fears of Christianization. It finds that disputes have been localized through the decentralization of power and exacerbated by the central government’s ambivalent attitude towards radical Islamists who disregard the rule of law.

Examining the challenge facing governments to accommodate minorities and manage religious pluralism, the book furthers understanding of state-religion relations in the Muslim world. This accessible and engaging book is of interest to students and scholars of law and society in Southeast Asia, was well as Islam and the state, and the legal regulation of religious diversity.