Fordham’s Institute on Religion, Law, and Lawyer’s Work will host a lecture on January 24 by Archbishop Timothy Dolan as part of its “Law & the Gospel of Life” series. Archbishop Dolan will discuss bioethics. Details are here.
Call for Papers: Emerging Voices in Islamic Jurisprudence
The Journal of Law and Religion (Hamline) has issued a call for papers for an upcoming conference, “Emerging Voices in Islamic Jurisprudence.” Information is here.
Conference: Religion and Civilization in International History (March 8-9, 2012)
Here is a call for papers for the Twelfth Annual Harvard Graduate Student Conference on International History, to be held in Cambridge in March. This year’s theme is “Religion and Civilization in International History.” Details are below.
The ConIH Committee invites graduate students to submit proposals for the Twelfth Annual Graduate Student Conference on International History to take place at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts on March 8-9, 2012.
Historical actors have used religion and civilization as potent tools for the creation and recreation of cultural and political identities, as well as other types of social cohesiveness. Studying religion and civilization, as distinct but often closely related concepts, raises questions about the theological underpinnings of the international order and international law, as well as the civilizational references that religious movements use to define their transnational missions within national, imperial, and other supranational frameworks. ConIH consequently invites graduate students from all continents and disciplines to submit studies that explore the international dimensions of religion and civilization.
We welcome submissions that examine religion and civilization in Read more
Conference on Christian Legal Thought (Jan. 7)
The Lumen Christi Institute will host the annual Conference on Christian Legal Thought on January 7 in Washington. Panels include “Public Unions and the State of Organized Labor,” “Pedagogy,” “Law, Speech, and Morality,” and “The Vocation of the Christian Lawyer and the Future of Legal Education.” Speakers include St. John’s own David Gregory. Details are here.
Lecture at Kellogg College (Oxford)
The Centre for the Study of Religion and Public Life at Kellogg College (Oxford) will host a lecture and panel discussion, “Equality, Freedom, and Religion,” featuring Professor Roger Trigg, on January 18, 2012. For details, please contact Kellogg College.
NYC Bar Program: Shariah Law and Islamic Finance (Nov. 29)
The NYC Bar Association will host a program, “Shariah Law and Islamic Finance — A Threat to America?,” on Tuesday, November 29, at the Association’s headquarters at 42 W. 44th Street in New York. Speakers include Bernard J. Apperson, Abed Awad, Bernard K. Freamon, Robert E. Michael, and Maria M. Patterson. Details are here.
The Secularization of the Legal Profession
Over at Mirror of Justice, Rob Vischer (St. Thomas – Minnesota) has an interesting post about a presentation he made last week, at a conference at Notre Dame, about the secularization of the legal profession over the last century. As evidence, he gives the very good example of the move from the “‘moral law’” standard of the 1908 ethical canons to today’s more agnostic approach. Although under the 1908 canons lawyers had a duty to provide moral advice to clients, nowadays moral advice is optional, and, in fact, subtly disfavored. The contemporary lawyer must find a way to achieve the client’s ends within the bounds of the law; we leave questions of morality mostly to the client. As it happens, I made a presentation on this very subject last month at the Forum 2000 Conference in Prague, in which I argued that the new approach is not the abdication of morality, exactly, but the substitution of a morality of individualism for one based on consensus moral norms derived from religion. (A video of the talk is here). Rob has a paper in the works that will no doubt be, like all his scholarship, well worth the reading. – MLM
Announcing the Colloquium in Law: Law and Religion
The Center for Law and Religion at St. John’s University School of Law is
pleased to announce an exciting new seminar for Spring 2012, Colloquium in Law: Law and Religion.
This course invites leading law and religion scholars to make presentations to a small audience of students and faculty. The following speakers have confirmed:
January 30: Philip Hamburger (Columbia University School of Law)
February 13: M. Cathleen Kaveny (Notre Dame Law School)
March 5: Joseph Weiler (NYU Law School)
March 19: Michael McConnell (Stanford Law School)
April 2: Justice Antonin Scalia
April 16: Ayelet Shachar (University of Toronto Faculty of Law)
Topics will be announced shortly.
Each session of the Colloquium will run from 4:00 to 6:00 in the third-floor faculty library. Interested faculty members in the New York area and beyond are invited to attend and participate.
Please email the Colloquium’s co-organizers, Marc DeGirolami (degirolm@stjohns.edu) or Mark Movsesian (movsesim@stjohns.edu), if you would like to attend. — MOD
November 17: “What’s So Special About Religious Freedom?”
I’ve recently become aware (thanks to Rick Garnett’s and Mark’s respective posts) of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University, which I’ve blogrolled in our links. It looks like a terrific resource.
On November 17, the Berkley Center will hold a conference titled, “What’s So Special About Religious Freedom?” which features a debate between Michael McConnell and Noah Feldman, as well as various other discussions. — MOD
NYC Bar Association Panel: Religious and Ethnic Minorities in the Middle East (Nov. 8)
The NYC Bar Association is sponsoring a panel, “Religious and Ethnic Minorities in the Middle East,” at the Association’s headquarters at 42 W. 44th St. (b/w 5th and 6th Ave.), on November 8 at 6:30 pm. Speakers include Irwin Colter, Ashraf Ramelah, Shastri Purushotma, Malvina Halberstam, and Elizabeth Defeis. Details are here. — MLM