Law and Theology: Classic Questions and Contemporary Perspectives
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
Law and Theology offers the definitive account of the relationship between law and theology in the Christian tradition. Drawing on diverse biblical texts and classic authors from the early church to contemporary voices from the modern period, David W. Opderbeck examines key legal questions and controversial case studies from an interdisciplinary perspective, breaking new ground for legal scholars and theologians alike. As a law professor, practicing attorney, and theologian, Opderbeck writes as an insider from both disciplines. This unique look brings fresh insight for both fields in a context where questions of theology and law are especially relevant—and increasingly urgent. Going beyond the culture wars, Opderbeck brings these real-world cases to life, examining the ins and outs of the most important legal questions facing American civic and religious life. Scholars and students of law and theology will find this book to be required reading in and outside the legal and theological classrooms.
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- Offers the definitive account of the relationship between law and theology
- Examines key legal questions and controversial case studies
- Draws on biblical texts and classic authors from the early church to contemporary voices
Part I. Theology
- Law and the Narrative of Scripture
- Law and History
- A Constructive Theology of Law after Modernity
Part II. Praxis
- Praxis of Law in Ordinary Time
- The First Big Question: Slavery and Race
- The Second and Third Big Questions: Abortion and LGBTQ Rights
Simultaneously lawyer, theologian, and law professor, David W. Opderbeck is a wise and expert guide into the fascinating nexus of theology and law. From Genesis to Revelation, Clement to Cone, natural law to positive law, Brown v. Board of Education to the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, usury to pharmaceutical product regulation, theory to praxis, Opderbeck covers immense ground and convincingly demonstrates along the way that a proper understanding of God’s mission can (and ought to) guide everything from how one lives and votes to how one litigates—even if one should—and why. The end is a vision of Christian life amid theology, law, and mission that is marked by patience and hope.
—Brent A. Strawn, Duke University
As a young professor, I remember hearing a Hebrew Bible professor discuss the laws of Israel as a constitution, concluding that thus the laws were not unlike contemporary laws. Since then, I have always tried to keep that larger constitutional perspective in reading what the Bible says about law as covenant obligation for Israel. However, few books have crossed my desk that seriously took up the discussion of how the Bible’s law emerges into or relates to contemporary law–natural, positive–and how Christians relate to laws of the land. David W. Opderbeck offers to Bible professors as well as to pastors and serious readers a full-orbed discussion of law in the Christian tradition. This book will generate much light and many discussions.
—Scot McKnight, Northern Seminary
This volume offers an authoritative and accessible tour of natural law and positive law from the garden of Eden to the latest machinations of the United States Supreme Court. David W. Opderbeck brings both theological discernment and legal acumen to bear on the weightier matters of the law, on the quotidian questions of legal practice, and on the current cultural battles over sexual liberty and religious liberty. Judicious, candid, briskly paced, and cogently argued, this book deserves a wide readership
—John Witte Jr., Emory University
- Title: Law and Theology: Classic Questions and Contemporary Perspectives
- Author: David W. Opderbeck
- Publisher: Fortress Press
- Print Publication Date: 2019
- Pages: 250
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
- Resource ID: LLS:LWTHCNTPRSPCTVS
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2020-08-14T15:37:40Z