God's Joust, God's Justice: Law and Religion in the Western Tradition (Emory University Studies in Law and Religion)
"John Witte has written a book that is profoundly in touch with the intractable issues in U.S. public life and in that of the West generally.  Though this study of rights is a historical analysis, it breaths with contemporary passion.  Among other things, it is a summons to the churches and other religious communities to care about the great public dimensions of order and value.  He urges them to dispense with myopic and sectarian preoccupations and to address the big issues. . .The future of our society depends on religious communities that can supply the narrative that will ground the work of human rights.  Witte's welcome book is an important wake-up call."   --Walter Brueggemann, Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary,Christian Century, January 2007"This formidable collection of essays encompasses and, to an extent, distills a decade of John Witte's scholarly investigations into the `dialectical interaction' of `law' and `religion' in the western tradition. . .The importance and timeliness of Witte's studies for both theological and legal disciplines lies precisely in his persistent determination to interpret western legal traditions as Christian traditions, flowing from biblical, apostolic and ecclesial sources, and not only from classical philosophical and legal source." --Joan Lockwood O'Donovan, Honorary Fellow, School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh,Studies in Christian Ethics, April 2008"John Witte's latest volume is a fine contribution to the contentious contemporary academic debates about religion, law, and politics.  Witte's book. . .is impressive in many ways, not least in its ambitions to force a significant reevaluation of what our history tells us about the rise of modern paradigms of law and politics and the role that religion has played.  It is an ambitious and generous volume that will, I believe, prove an excellent resource as we continue to wrestle with the complexities of the modern experiment with religious freedom."  --Brett T. Wilmot, Professor and Associate Director, Ethics Program, Villanova University,"In summary, this readable book provides a useful historical review of the relation between law and religion in Western culture...I cannot imagine that any serious student of the issue, whether neophyte or expert, could read this book without satisfaction and profit."  --Charles E. Rice, Professor Emeritus University of Notre Dame Law School,The Review of Politics, Feburary 2008"InGod's Joust, God's Justice: Law and Religion in the Western Tradition, John Witte, Jr. applies the lens of Christian history to the legal topics as varied as human rights, proselytism, crime, marriage, clerical celibacy, illegitimacy, and jurisprudence.  For many authors, such a diverse lineup, particularly in a field as expansive and amorphous as law and religion, would tend to produce a compilation of work that seems more contrived than coherent.  But Witte admirably succeeds in his project by portraying the mutual reliance of law and religion through normative comparison and historical narrative...Witte calls "peoples of all faiths and no faiths to take their place in the marketplace" (261).  Coming from a scholar of Witte's caliber and temperament, it is a welcome invitation."     --Robert Vischer, Professor and Associate Dean, University of St. Thomas Law School,Journal of Religion, January 2008