Mirror of Justice

A blog dedicated to the development of Catholic legal theory.
Affiliated with the Program on Church, State & Society at Notre Dame Law School.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Kessler on Stringfellow and "religious lawyering"

A student forwarded me a lovely essay on religious lawyering that was linked by Andrew Sullivan several days ago.  Written by a lawyer named Jeremy Kessler, it begins with an eye-opening turn of phrase: "[T]here is something cartoonish about turning the black-letter law-book into a springboard toward the Ultimate."  He examines the life and work of William Stringfellow, springboarding to the current "religious lawyering movement" that I and others on MoJ have written about.  He concludes:

Though Stringfellow would have applauded this emphasis on the richness of human relationship, he might have questioned the relative ease with which some religious lawyers propose to negotiate the competing sovereignties of God, the state, and the marketplace. Stringfellow was anxious enough about the conflict between biblical and earthly advocacy when representing poor tenants. The religious lawyer’s search for God’s blessing in most any legal arena—whether corporate boardroom or prosecutor’s office—is probably a more liberal one than Stringfellow’s demanding Christ could allow.

Despite their differences, both Stringfellow’s biblical advocate and today’s religious lawyer come into the legal world ready to obey the Word. Their struggle to reconcile faith with worldly practice is one thing. The struggle to hear the Word to begin with is quite another. It would have been great if I could have gotten the major soul-searching out of the way before entering law school. Although a legal education can serve the young crusader well, it is better at inducing spiritual crises than resolving them.

https://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2011/10/kessler-on-stringfellow-and-religious-lawyering.html

Vischer, Rob | Permalink

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While it is true that Justice requires The Word of God, it is important to note that Christ Has revealed to His Church, that from The Beginning God Has created us in His Image, equal in dignity while being complementary as male and female and thus any act that does not respect our inherent dignity as human persons, is not an act of Love. There is only ONE Truth of Love, The Word of God Made Flesh. One cannot be ready to hear The Word if one does not recognize His Voice, nor can one abide in His Word if one does not know who He is.

Posted by: Nancy D. | Oct 27, 2011 12:30:34 PM