John Witte Jr.’s contribution to the study of the relationship between Christianity and Law

Abstract

This chapter analyzes John Witte Jr.’s contribution to the study of the relationship between Christianity and law as an autonomous branch within the broad field that studies the relationship between law and religion. First, the chapter presents Witte as a Christian jurist educated in Reformed Protestantism and influenced by Abraham Kuyper and Harold J. Berman, among others. Second, the chapter describes and evaluates the interdisciplinary, interdenominational, and international project on Christianity and law headed by Witte, to which more than five hundred scholars (jurists, theologians, philosophers, historians, and sociologists) are contributing. Witte analyzes the interaction between Christianity and law from a relational, biographical, and jurisprudential perspective. Underlying his project is the idea that the relationship between Christianity and law is not merely accidental, but has a metahistorical significance and an enduring value for the development of humanity. Although the project has already borne much fruit, there is room for further maturity and methodological purity as it is still in its early stages.