John Witte Jr

The Legal Foundations of Religious Freedom documents the essential interdependence of human rights and religious freedom in the West, from antiquity to the present. In The Legal Foundations of Religious Freedom, authors John Witte Jr. and Andrea Pin explore the Christian and secular origins of rights in the Western legal tradition and the complex interplay between human rights and religious freedom norms in modern law, religion, and culture. They analyze historical documents and recent cases from the United States Supreme Court, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Court of Justice of the European Union to articulate the historical, theoretical, and legal tension of human rights and religious freedom on both sides of the Atlantic. The authors contrast the serious threats to new religious minorities and traditional religious accommodations with firm new protections of religious freedoms in both Europe and America. Ultimately calling for robust protection of the fundamental rights and liberties of all people and faiths, Witte and Pin caution that religious freedom and other human rights claims can only do so much to bridge the widening cultural divides over law and religion in modern Western societies. It is our responsibility to embrace the fundamental goods of dignity, fraternity, and justice.

The Legal Foundations of Religious Freedom documents the essential interdependence of human rights and religious freedom in the West, from antiquity to the present. In The Legal Foundations of Religious Freedom, authors John Witte Jr. and Andrea Pin explore the Christian and secular origins of rights in the Western legal tradition and the complex interplay between human rights and religious freedom norms in modern law, religion, and culture. They analyze historical documents and recent cases from the United States Supreme Court, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Court of Justice of the European Union to articulate the historical, theoretical, and legal tension of human rights and religious freedom on both sides of the Atlantic. The authors contrast the serious threats to new religious minorities and traditional religious accommodations with firm new protections of religious freedoms in both Europe and America. Ultimately calling for robust protection of the fundamental rights and liberties of all people and faiths, Witte and Pin caution that religious freedom and other human rights claims can only do so much to bridge the widening cultural divides over law and religion in modern Western societies. It is our responsibility to embrace the fundamental goods of dignity, fraternity, and justice.

German description: Dieser Band analysiert die machtigen normativen Grundlagen, die - im Guten wie im Schlechten - den moralischen Charakter und die ethische Bildung in Europa, Amerika, Australien, Sudafrika und anderen spatmodernen liberalen Gesellschaften pragen. Auf der Grundlage einer gross angelegten interdisziplinaren und internationalen Studie analysiert dieser Band zunachst die sich wandelnden Orte und Rollen dieser normativen Grundlagen sowohl in den traditionellen sozialen Spharen von Familie, Religion, Recht, Politik und Markten als auch in den neuen sozialen Spharen von Bildung, akademischer Forschung, Gesundheitsversorgung, Medien und Militar. Alle diese sozialen Systeme und ihre komplexe Gewaltenteilung sind fur den Aufbau eines guten Lebens und einer guten Gesellschaft heute unverzichtbar. Keines dieser sozialen Systeme sollte die anderen dominieren. Mit ihren jeweiligen Kompetenzen mussen sie zusammenwirken, um das Streben nach Gerechtigkeit, Freiheit, Wahrheit, Menschenfreundlichkeit und Frieden im In- und Ausland zu fordern. English summary: This volume analyzes the powerful normative codes that, for better or worse, shape moral character and ethical education in European countries, in the US, Australia, South Africa, and other late modern liberal societies. Drawing on a major interdisciplinary and international study, this volume analyses the shifting places and roles of these normative codes both in the traditional social spheres of family, religion, law, politics, and markets as well as in the new social spheres of education, academic research, health care, the media, and the military. All of these social systems as well as their complex division of powers, we argue, are essential for building a good life and a good society today, and none should dominate the others. And all of these social systems with their competences must work separately and together to foster justice, freedom, benevolence, and peace at home and abroad.

Johannes Calvin entwickelte ein neues Verständnis von Rechten und Freiheiten, von Kirche und Staat, das das Rechtssystem der frÃ"hen protestantischen Staaten formte. Seine Lehren, die sich schnell in Westeuropa ausbreiteten, wurden immer wieder durch groÃe Krisen herausgefordert: die französischen Religionskriege, die niederländische Revolte, die englische Revolution, die amerikanische Kolonisation und Revolution. In solchen Krisen waren es Anhänger Calvins, die sein Denken aktualisierten und der neuen Situation anpassten. Eine Reihe grundlegender westlicher Auffassungen von Religion und politischen Rechten, sozialem und konfessionellem Pluralismus, Föderalismus und Gesellschaftsvertrag haben im frÃ"hmodernen Calvinismus ihren Ursprung.

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.