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Christianity Today, August, 2008 |

Redeeming Law

In a cynical society suspicious of lawyers, Christian law schools are decidedly not.

Tim Stafford | posted 8/15/2008 08:44AM

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So faculty members come from a wide spectrum of Protestants, Catholics, and Jews. (One professor is a rabbi.) Their politics span the spectrum, too. Pepperdine has never sought a Christian student body, yet it vies with Regent to send the most students to national cls conventions. As professor Rob Anderson says, "There's a critical mass of students with incredible faith—living side by side with unbelievers." Christian scholarship, says professor Douglas Kmiec, "happens naturally, not as a result of a preplanned curriculum."

Pepperdine is on a different coast from Liberty, metaphorically as well as literally. Both are worlds apart from Notre Dame and the University of Georgia. You find the same movement at all these schools, however, and at many more. These Christian lawyers believe in something quite astonishing, given our current climate: the ennobling purpose of the law, and the servanthood of those who administer it. Abraham Lincoln's words to lawyers capture this spirit, reminding us of how far from the ideal we have fallen:

"Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough."

Tim Stafford is a senior writer for CT.

Related Elsewhere:

"Unquestionable Tactics," about a Christian lawyer's challenges, accompanies this article.

Other articles on law are available on our website.

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August 2008, Vol. 52, No. 8

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Bruce Strom

Posted: August 27, 2008 2:25 PM

I appreciated your article and agree that many Christian lawyers believe in: "the ennobling purpose of the law,and the servanthood of those who administer it." One of your commenters - Jerry - is obviously unaware of the Center for Law and Culture, www.lawandculture.org. I serve as the chairman of the board of this significant organization which is currently producing a leading treatise to be published by U Penn addressing his very commens. He is also unfamiliar with Adminster Jutice, www.administerjustice.org, a Christian legal aid organizaton I began because of my belief in the servanthood of those who administer justice. I left a very lucrative private law practice to redeem the law for thousands of low-income people in need. I don't know what Jerry is doing but I think he is the one being fooled. Many of us are actively pursuing the enobling purposes of the law and demonstrating servanthood in the administraton of it.

Graham Combs

Posted: August 23, 2008 8:29 PM

I graduated from CUNY Law School in 1994. Its hostility to Christianity intimidated Catholic and evangelical students alike. Not to mention Federalist Society members. Challenging the prevailing law on abortion made me a pariah. Constitutional , contracts, and property law were politicized beyond recognition. Domestic relations law prepared lawyers to challenge marriage. Anyone who underestimates the prevailing ambitions in the ABA and law schools is not paying attention. Witness the bloodsport we call federal and state judical appointments. CUNY is not exceptional in its approach to legal education. It isn't surprising that schools produce cafeteria lawyers and a legal buffet. Kelo v. New London is not an abberation. The Supreme Court is tempted by failed international norms even as the caprice of tribal paleocivics is made an equal to rule of law. Judeo-Christian roots and Ango-American common law are critical to training future lawyers and judges.

Isaiah Tor

Posted: August 21, 2008 1:55 AM

I highly respect the sentiment expressed by the writer of this article. Yet perhaps whilst we would seek to Christianize many people through the gospel, even as demonstrated through a spiritual perception and consideration of our Judaeo-Christian legal system, we must realize that however influential Christian jurisprudence may be in instructing and preserving the lives of many of the young from rampant moral degradation, we must recognize the world as a system controlled by the god of this age, Satan (as opposed to the sinners therein) can never change. Whilst a Christian lawyer can flourish in an equitable, just and compassionate interpretation of the law, we must be mindful, that no amount of legal instruction apart from the work of Christ through the Holy Spirit can fundamentally and irreversibly transform a person (Rom. 8:3). The dream propounded by this article of a legal paradise is commendable if it does not seek to replace the gospel of God's salvation in Christ by the Spirit.

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