call for Articles: Villanova Conference on John Courtney Murray

CALL FOR ARTICLES

An Interdisciplinary Conference

THE LEGACY OF JOHN COURTNEY MURRAY FOR LAW AND POLITICS

Sponsored by the Journal of Catholic Social Thought and Villanova University School of Law

Friday, September 16, 2005 at Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania

Thge 2004 presidential election showed that the perpetual question of the nature of the relationship between the Catholic Church and American politics and law remains unresolved, and that interest in the question is as great as ever. This question has always had many dimensions. It is at once a problem in the political theory of liberal democracy, in the law of Church and State and in the relationship of law and morality, and a problem of conscience for both ordinary Catholics and Catholic politicians. John Courtney Murray, S.J., created a major synthesis that seemed to ease what were very sharp tensions between the triumphal Church of mid-century and the claims of liberal democracy. To what extent is Father Murray's resolution of the tensions of that era useful for us today, after the culture wars of the last forty years (particularly over abortion), the rise of the religious right as a political force, the split between "right" and "left" in the Church, the trend toward privatization of religion in American life, and the increased difficulty of claiming, as did Murray, that "We Hold These Truth" ? These and related questions will be explored in an interdisciplinary conference including legal academics, political theorists, philosophers, theologians and others. Papers presented at the conference will be considered for punlication in the Journal of Catholic Social Thought.

PAPER PROPOSALS. Please send paper proposals to Mark A. Sargent at [email protected] , or Villanova Law School, 299 N. Spring Mill Rd, Villanova PA 19085, by May 15, 2005.