John Witte

Frank S. Alexander

The Teachings of Modern Orthodox Christianity on Law, Politics, and Human Nature examines how modern Orthodox Christian thinkers have answered the most pressing political, legal, and ethical questions of our time. It discusses the enduring teachings of important Orthodox Christian intellectuals of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Leading contemporary scholars analyze these thinkers' views on the nature and purpose of law and authority, the limits of rule and obedience, the care of the needy and innocent, the ethics of war and violence, and the separation of church and state, among other themes. A diverse and powerful portrait of Orthodox Christian legal and political thought, this volume underscores the various ways Orthodox Christian intellectuals have shaped modern debates over the family, the state, religion, and society. The book concentrates on Russian philosophers Vladimir Soloviev (1853-1900) and Vladimir Lossky (1903-1958); Russian theologian Nicholas Berdyaev (1874-1948); Russian nun and social reformer Mother Maria Skobtsova (1891-1945); and Romanian theologian Dumitru St?niloae (1903-1993).

The Teachings of Modern Orthodox Christianity on Law, Politics, and Human Nature

John Witte (Jr.)

This is a major project to be undertaken as part of a broad intiative of the Pew Charitable Trusts and the University of Notre Dame on the role of Christianity in modern society. John Witte is one of the editors of the forthcoming Sex, Marriage, and the Family: A Reader in World Religions.

The Teachings of Modern Christianity on Law, Politics, and Human Nature

John Witte's poetry sweeps the reader immediately into its crosscurrents, its passionate engagement and its ambivalence, its lyric economy and narrative breadth. Wide open to the world, he writes with uncommon energy and urgency, and his vision, while hardheaded, is exhilarating. John Witte is an instructor of English at the University of Oregon. This is his third book of poetry.

Poems

Second Nature

Michael Welker

This volume addresses whether, how, and where laws (variously defined) teach values and shape moral character in late modern liberal societies. Each author recognizes the essential value of state law in fostering peace, security, health, education, charity, trade, democracy, constitutionalism, justice, and human rights, among many other moral goods. Each author also recognizes, however, the grave betrayals of law in supporting fascism, slavery, apartheid, genocide, persecution, violence, racism, and other forms of immorality and injustice. They thus call for state laws that set a basic civil morality of duty for society and for robust freedoms that protect private individuals and private groups to cultivate a higher morality of aspiration. With contributions by Rüdiger Bittner, Brian Bix, Frank Brennan, Allen Calhoun, Robert F. Cochran, Jr., Kenneth John Crispin, Jean Bethke Elshtain, E. Allan Farnsworth, James E. Fleming, M. Cathleen Kaveny, Ute Mager, Linda C. McClain, Reid Mortensen, Patrick Parkinson, Thomas Pfeiffer, Robert Vosloo, Michael Welker, and John Witte, Jr. [Der Einfluss des Rechts auf Charakterbildung, ethische Erziehung und Kommunikation von Werten in spätmodernen pluralistischen Gesellschaften] Dieser Band befasst sich mit der Frage, ob, wie und wo Gesetze – unterschiedlich formulierte – Werte lehren und den moralischen Charakter in spätmodernen liberalen Gesellschaften formen. Jeder Autor erkennt den wesentlichen Wert des staatlichen Rechts für die Förderung von Frieden, Sicherheit, Gesundheit, Bildung, Wohltätigkeit, Handel, Demokratie, Konstitutionalismus, Gerechtigkeit und Menschenrechten unter vielen anderen moralischen Gütern an. Jeder Autor erkennt jedoch auch den schwerwiegenden Verrat an Gesetzen an, der Faschismus, Sklaverei, Apartheid, Völkermord, Verfolgung, Gewalt, Rassismus und andere Formen von Unmoral und Ungerechtigkeit unterstützt. Sie fordern daher staatliche Gesetze, die eine grundlegende bürgerliche Pflichtmoral für die Gesellschaft festlegen, und robuste Freiheiten, die Privatpersonen und private Gruppen schützen, um eine höhere Moral des Strebens zu pflegen.

On Character Formation, Ethical Education, and the Communication of Values in Late Modern Pluralistic Societies

The Impact of the Law

William Schweiker

Stephen Pickard

This volume addresses whether, how, and where academic research has an impact on ethical education, character formation, and the communication of values in late modern pluralistic societies. It reflects the great impacts of a global network of research universities, with an enormous range of exact, social, and humane sciences, and sundry forms of professional training in medicine, theology, law, and business. Several chapter authors praise the modern academy for its ardent pursuit of knowledge and truth and its ample defense of tested truth-claims. But other authors challenge the ethical impact of some forms and forums of academic research today. With contributions by Stefan Alkier (Frankfurt), Rudiger Bittner (Bielefeld), Celia Deane-Drummond (Oxford), Bernold Fiedler (Berlin), Andreas Glaeser (Chicago), Gary Hauk (Atlanta), Jorg Hufner (Heidelberg), Michael Kirschfi nk (Heidelberg), Andreas Schule (Leipzig), William Schweiker (Chicago), Michael Welker (Heidelberg), and John Witte, Jr. (Atlanta).

The Impact of Academic Research

M. Christian Green

This volume examines the relationship between religion and human rights in seven major religious traditions, as well as key legal concepts, contemporary issues, and relationships among religion, state, and society in the areas of human rights and religious freedom.

An Introduction

Religion and Human Rights

Analyzes the interplay between Christian theological norms and Western legal principles concerning marriage, examining the theology and law of marriage in the Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist, Anglican, and Enlightenment traditions.

Marriage, Religion, and Law in the Western Tradition

From Sacrament to Contract

This newly revised and enlarged edition of John Witte's authoritative historical study explores the interplay of law, theology, and marriage in the Western tradition. Witte uncovers the core beliefs that formed the theological genetic code of Western marriage and family law. He explores the systematic models of marriage developed by Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists, Anglicans, and Enlightenment thinkers, and the transformative influence of each model on Western marriage law. In addition, he traces the millennium-long reduction of marriage from a complex spiritual, social, contractual, and natural institution into a simple private contract with freedom of entrance, exercise, and exit for husband and wife alike. This second edition updates and expands each chapter and the bibliography. It also includes three new chapters on classical, biblical, and patristic sources.

This book investigates the impact of education on the formation of character, moral education and the communication of values in late modern pluralistic societies. Scholars from four continents and many different academic fields are involved. While the basic framework for the contributions is informed by Christian traditions, the disciplines cover a significant range, including theology, education, psychology, literature, anthropology, law, and business. This makes for a rich variety of thematic concentrations and perspectives. Readers will quickly sense that the educational foundations and trajectories of any given country are pervasive and have a significant reach into the fabric and shape of the society and its values, making education a barometer of the well-being of a people and their culture. The result is a volume that will inform, stimulate and challenge our understanding of the role of education in contemporary societies. [Der Einfluss der Bildung auf Charakterbildung, ethische Erziehung und Kommunikation von Werten in spätmodernen pluralistischen Gesellschaften] Dieses Buch untersucht den Einfluss der Bildung auf die Charakterentwicklung, die moralische Erziehung und die Vermittlung von Werten in spätmodernen pluralistischen Gesellschaften. Die Beiträge kommen von Wissenschaftlern und Wissenschaftlerinnen aus vier Kontinenten und vielen verschiedenen akademischen Bereichen. Während der Rahmen für die Beiträge von christlichen Traditionen geprägt ist, decken die Disziplinen eine große Bandbreite ab, darunter Theologie, Pädagogik, Psychologie, Literatur, Anthropologie, Recht und Wirtschaft. Daraus ergibt sich eine reiche Vielfalt an thematischen Schwerpunkten und Perspektiven. Die Leserinnen und Leser werden schnell erkennen, dass die Bildungsgrundlagen und -wege eines jeden Landes bedeutenden Einfluss auf das Gefüge und die Form der Gesellschaft und ihrer Werte ausüben. Dies macht Bildung zu einem Gradmesser für das Wohlergehen eines Volkes und seiner Kultur. Entstanden ist ein Band, der unser Verständnis von der Rolle der Bildung in heutigen Gesellschaften heben, anregen und herausfordern kann. Contributions by Chung-Hyun Baik, Ashley Rogers Berner, David S. Cunningham, Joachim Funke, Charles L. Glenn, Robert W. Hefner, Darcia Narvaez, Stephen Pickard, Irene Pieper, Jo-Anne Reid, Heike Springhart, Anne W. Stewart, Michael Welker, and John Witte, Jr.

on Character Formation, Ethics, and the Communication of Values in Late Modern Pluralistic Societies

The Impact of Education

In an often violent and dangerous world military defense systems exercise a major role in the ways societies and nations function, develop their aspirations, protect themselves, promote their identities and shape their destinies. As we are only too aware at this time in global history, conflict, war and peace are deeply entangled and often morally ambiguous. This timely volume of essays offers contributions from Europe, Africa and Australia. It raises fundamental issues about the indispensability of the virtues in the military; the relationship between military and the public good; the nature of combatants and a soldier's responsibilities for humanity and peace; moral and spiritual injury; and new challenges for pastoral care in the armed forces.

on Character Formation, Ethical Education, and the Communication of Values in Late Modern Pluralistic Societies

The Impact of Military

Eliza Ellison

Covenant marriages requiring premarital counseling and tighter strictures on divorce have recently emerged in some American states. At the same time, the doctrine of covenant has reemerged in religious circles as a common way to map the spiritual dimensions of marriage. Covenant Marriage in Comparative Perspective brings together eminent scholars from Jewish, Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, and Islamic religious traditions as well as experts on American covenant marriage. The introduction carries out an unprecedented comparison of contract and covenant in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim understandings of marriage. The rest of the book elucidates various facets of marriage from the perspectives of both jurisprudence and religion, producing an enlightening integrated picture of the legal and spiritual dimensions of marriage.

Covenant Marriage in Comparative Perspective

This Landmark three volume series examines how modern Catholic, Protestant & Orthodox thinkers have responded to the most pressing political, legal & ethical questions of our time.

The Teachings of Modern Roman Catholicism on Law, Politics, and Human Nature

Jr. Witte

This book investigates the relationship between the law and religious ideology in Luther's Germany.

The Legal Teachings of the Lutheran Reformation

Law and Protestantism

This book investigates the impact of education on the formation of character, moral education and the communication of values in late modern pluralistic societies. Scholars from four continents and many different academic fields are involved. While the basic framework for the contributions is informed by Christian traditions, the disciplines cover a significant range, including theology, education, psychology, literature, anthropology, law, and business. This makes for a rich variety of thematic concentrations and perspectives. Readers will quickly sense that the educational foundations and trajectories of any given country are pervasive and have a significant reach into the fabric and shape of the society and its values, making education a barometer of the well-being of a people and their culture. The result is a volume that will inform, stimulate and challenge our understanding of the role of education in contemporary societies.

On Character Formation, Ethics, and the Communication of Values in Late Modern Pluralistic Societies

The family is humanity's oldest and most basic social institution, but today it is fragile, fractured, and fraught in many liberal lands. This volume gathers scholars from sociology, psychology, history, religion, ethics, law, and medicine from five continents to analyze the complex nature and place of the family in character formation and human flourishing. The chapters study the impact of catechesis, schooling, work, and discipline on the development of individual moral agency and responsibility. They document the critical roles of family love, trust, fidelity, and story-telling in shaping the moral character of all family members from infancy to old age. They describe effective strategies of resistance and resilience for family members who face abuse, divorce, death, chauvinism, racism, and homophobia. And several chapters challenge modern arguments and policies that aim to flatten if not abolish the marital family, even while they call for family law reforms. Contributions by Enola G. Aird, Helen Alvaré, Robert N. Bellah, Margaret Jane Brining, Michael J. Broyde, Marcia Bunge, Stephen Carter, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Robyn Fivuush, Patrick Hornbeck, Andreas Kruse, Nadia Marais, Gordon Mikoski, Bonnie Miller-McLemore, Patrick Parkinson, Katja Patzel-Mattern, Sabina Pauen, Stephen G. Post, Eugene C. Roehlkepartain, and Thomas Xutong Qu.

The Impact of the Family

Calvin's teachings spread rapidly throughout Western Europe shaping the law of early modern Protestant lands.

Law, Religion and Human Rights in Early Modern Calvinism

The Reformation of Rights

Late modern pluralistic societies are characterised by an infinitely multi-coloured individuality of their citizens and a wealth of associations and groups. This "plurality", which is difficult to grasp, is welcomed by many people as a source of freedom, but feared by some people inside and many observers outside as a social chaos. However, this plurality is countered by a limited number of so-called "social systems", which are to a large extent characterised by organisational, institutional and normative structures and weight. The overwhelming majority of the contributions in this volume deal with the Christian religion, as pluralistic societies today thrive substantially in Christian environments. Contributions by Peter Carnley, Gregor Etzelmüller, Johannes Eurich, Jennifer Herdt, Admiel Kosman, Piet Naudé, Waihan Ng, Friederike Nüssel, Bernd Oberdorfer, Martin Percy, Stephen Pickard, Raja Sakrani, William Schweiker, Philipp Stoellger, Milton Wan, Renee Ip, and Michael Welker. [Der Einfluss der Religion auf Charakterbildung, ethische Erziehung und Kommunikation von Werten in spätmodernen pluralistischen Gesellschaften] Spätmoderne pluralistische Gesellschaften sind von einer unendlich vielfarbigen Individualität ihrer Bürgerinnen und Bürger und einer Fülle von Zusammenschlüssen und Gruppierungen geprägt. Diese schwer zu fassende "Pluralität" wird von vielen Menschen als Quellgrund der Freiheit begrüßt, von manchen Innenstehenden und vielen Außenstehenden aber auch als soziales Chaos gefürchtet. Doch dieser Pluralität steht eine begrenzte Zahl von sogenannten "sozialen Systemen" gegenüber, die in hohem Maße organisatorisch, institutionell und normativ geprägt sind. Die überwältigende Mehrzahl der Beiträge diese Bandes behandeln die christliche Religion, da pluralistische Gesellschaften heute wesentlich in christlichen Umgebungen gedeihen. This book on the influence of religion on the ethos of pluralistic societies is part of a series of ten international research projects with contributions from all continents. The influences of the market, law, science, politics, media, family, education, medicine and defense will also be examined.

The Impact of Religion

Richard C. Martin

More than a dozen religious leaders offer authoritative statements and analyses of classic and contemporary perspectives on mission activity and conversion in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Religious Perspectives on the Rights and Wrongs of Proselytism

Sharing the Book

Michael Bourdeaux

Few of the struggles Russia has undergone since the fall of Communism have been fiercer than that being fought between the long-repressed Russian Orthodox Church and a host of groups seeking to evangelize the Russian people. This volume assesses the legitimacy of the Orthodox attempt to reclaim the spiritual and moral heart of the Russian people and to retain their adherence in a new, pluralistic world where many Christians and followers of other traditions seek the right to establish themselves. Proselytism and Orthodoxy in Russia also brings together the latest scholarship on the new Russian laws regarding religion as well as suggesting guidelines for foreign missionaries in Russia.

The New War for Souls

Proselytism and Orthodoxy in Russia

Philip L. Reynolds

This 2007 book analyzes how, why, and when pre-modern Europeans documented their marriages - through property deeds, marital settlements, dotal charters, church court depositions, wedding liturgies, and other indicia of marital consent. The authors consider both the function of documentation in the process of marrying and what the surviving documents say about pre-modern marriage and how people in the day understood it. Drawing on archival evidence from classical Rome, medieval France, England, Iceland, and Ireland, and Renaissance Florence, Douai, and Geneva, the volume provides a rich interdisciplinary analysis of the range of marital customs, laws, and practices in Western Christendom. The chapters include freshly translated specimen documents that bring the reader closer to the actual practice of marrying than the normative literature of pre-modern theology and canon law.

John Witte

Books

Your next favorite book is out there