More on John Paul II

Another highlight from the St. John's conference was the panel featuring my colleague Lisa Schiltz, Widener law prof Randy Lee, Pepperdine law prof (and ordained rabbi) Sam Levine, and MoJ's own Amy Uelmen.  Lisa explored the work of John Paul II through the lens of feminism and dependency theory, particulary the work of Robin West and Alasdair MacIntyre.  Noting John Paul's emphasis on the identity-furthering value of care to the caregiver, she suggested that a dependency-based theory of justice that incorporates his work will have important, even radical, implications for our treatment of women in the workplace (and contrary to the caricature, the implications are not that women should be pushed out of the workplace) and our understanding of disability rights.  Amy pushed this theme further, relying on John Paul's teaching that the opportunity to love is a gift for the lover.

Randy Lee offered a thoughtful reflection on the difference between God's law, as the young Karol Wojtyla saw it in the lives of his Jewish neighbors, and man's law, as he experienced under the Nazi and communist regimes.  One important distinction Randy drew out is that God's law, in embodying a transcendent human dignity, will be founded in significant part on meaningful human community.  Sam Levine looked to the Hebrew scriptures relied on in John Paul's work to offer a thoughtful commentary on the relationship between mercy and justice. 

For anyone interested in Catholic legal theory, this conference's papers are a must-read once they are published.

Rob