Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The encounter of religion and law excites both theology and jurisprudence. Religion and law are each potent, ancient forces in human life. Their dialogue is abiding, but culturally contingent. It is profound, but, sometimes, refreshingly mundane. This entry will devote most of its attention to the efforts of contemporary secular law to draw a picture of religion and determine its place in the civil state. That, however, is only one piece of a larger conversation on the relation of law and religion. It will do well, to give the topic breathing room, to begin with some of those other pieces. Religion and law both have many layers. They are, for one, movements in human history – social, cultural, intellectual, and institutional phenomena. In some societies, law and religion merge. Even when they are distinct, they grip each other. Religious values, directly or through the conduit of moral sensibility, obviously influence legal traditions. But legal doctrines also affect religious thought. In the Hebrew Bible, the covenant between God and Israel echoes ancient Near Eastern treaty law. Patristic accounts of the efficacy of Christ's redemptive sacrifice drew on the Roman legal doctrine of “satisfaction.” The communal dramas of religion and law also mirror each other. Legal institutions take on religious trappings, to the point that they are sometimes accused of engaging in idolatry. Religious ... log in or subscribe to read full text