The Teachings of Modern Christianity

That's the title of the new two-volume study published this month by Columbia University Press; it's subtitle reads "On Law, Politics, and Human Nature."  Edited by Emory's John Witte, Jr. and Frank Alexander, the study is the culmination of a three-year project funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and encouranged in various ways by the University of Notre Dame and Emory's Law and Religion Program.  "Praise" found on the jacket comes from Martin Marty, Jean Elshtain, Robert Bellah, and Don Browning.  Martin Marty and Judge Noonan have each provided a Foreword to the study; its Afterwords are by Kent Greenawalt and Harold Berman.  This is not Christianity Lite. 

The volumes pursue law, politics, and human nature as they have emerged in reflection and teaching in the Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox traditions since the late nineteenth century.  One volume is packed with original essays on the leading contributors in each of the three traditions; the other volume is an anthology of original writings, of those leading figures.  Among the Catholics covered are Leo XIII, Jacques Maritain, John C. Murray, Gustavo Gutierrez, Dorothy Day, and Pope John Paul II.  Among the Protestants are Abraham Kuyper, Susan B. Anthony, Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Reinhold Niebuhr, Martin Luther King , Jr., and William Stringfellow.  The Orthodox figures studied are Vladimir Soloviev, Nicholas Berdyaev, Vladimir Lossky, Mother Maria Skobtsova, and Dumitru Staniloae.

The combination of analytical essays and corresponding primary sources, plus a magisterial introduction to each of the three traditions, should make this a valuable teaching tool.  But this is not just a teaching tool.  These volumes contain much to be mined by many, including those interested in Catholic Legal Theory  I'll leave it to other readers of the volumes to begin here a discussion of the volumes' theses, insights, and significance.  Congratulations to John Witte, Frank Alexander, and all their collaborators and supporters for bringing us all this great gift of learning.  As Martin Marty says of the study, "It stands alone."