Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism

The Theology of the Practice of Law

On February 14, 2002, the Mercer Law Review held a symposium on the Theology of the Practice of Law. Funding for the symposium came from the Law Review and from the Lilly Foundation. The symposium explored these questions, among others:

If there is a way of life defined by the rhetorical tradition in which the practice of law is embedded, what might we learn by studying and judging this way of life in a manner that does not bracket God from the inquiry? Does it make sense to suggest that the excellences of the ordinary practice of law carry with them certain theological implications? If so, what might these excellences and this practice have to offer theology rather than, as is usually asked, the other way around?

The participants in the symposium were:

Peter Ackroyd, author of The Life of Thomas More
Joseph Allegretti, Douglas T. Hickey Professor of Business, Siena College
Robert Audi, Charles J. Mack Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, University of Nebraska
James Boyd White, L. Hart Wright Professor of Law and Professor of English, University of Michigan
Walter Brueggemann, Professor of Old Testament, Columbia Theological Seminary
Marie A. Failinger, Professor of Law, Hamline University School of Law
Millard Fuller, President, Habitat for Humanity, International
Joseph Vining, Harry Burns Hutchins Professor of Law, University of Michigan

The symposium proceedings are available in Volume 53 of the Mercer Law Review. Click here to link to the Mercer Law Review.