God's Joust, God's Justice: Law and Religion in Western Tradition (Emory University Studies in Law and Religion)

There are three things that people will die for — their faith, their freedom, and their family. This volume studies all three, and the interactions among them in the Western tradition and today. Retrieving and reconstructing a wealth of material from the earliest Hebrew and Greek texts of the West to the latest machinations of the Supreme Court, John Witte explores the legal and theological foundations of authority and liberty, equality and dignity, rights and duties, marriage and family, crime and punishment, and similar topics. This volume is a lucid scholarly introduction to the burgeoning field of law and religion and a learned historical inquiry into the weightier matters of the law.

Scholars of law, theology, history, ethics, marriage, politics, American studies, and human rights will find this volume an invaluable classroom text, commuter companion, and armchair paperback.