{"id":5597,"date":"2010-02-22T06:05:19","date_gmt":"2010-02-22T06:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/law-at-the-jesus-creed-david-o-8.html"},"modified":"2010-02-22T06:05:19","modified_gmt":"2010-02-22T06:05:19","slug":"law-at-the-jesus-creed-david-o-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/law-at-the-jesus-creed-david-o-8.html","title":{"rendered":"Law at the Jesus Creed: David Opderbeck"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lawbook.jpg\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Mission, Accommodation, and the Rule of Law … <\/i>David Opderbeck is a professor of law at Seton Hall University<\/b><\/a> and blogs at Through a Glass Darkly<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Debates over law and “culture war” issues, particularly concerning abortion and gay marriage, revolve around the extent to which law should encode morality. <\/span><\/p>\n

A common secular view is that “law” and “morality” are essentially separate domains.  <\/span>In this view, “law” ideally serves the “neutral” function of allowing each individual to live out his or her personal moral code without undue interference from others. <\/span><\/p>\n

A common religious view, advanced by some Christians, is that “law” and “morality” are substantially overlapping domains.  <\/span>“Law” should serve as a moral enforcer and moral teacher, at least concerning foundational principles such as the right to life and the sanctity of marriage.  <\/span>Further, these basic moral principles should be considered accessible to religious and non-religious people alike through exercise of ordinary reason.  <\/span>This approach often suggests that these “natural law” principles have long been embedded in humanity’s great religious and social traditions, and in particular in “Judeo-Christian ethics.”<\/p>\n

What do you think:  <\/span>can “Law” be morally “neutral?”  <\/span>Is there such a thing as a “Judeo-Christian ethic” that can or should form the basis for “Law?”<\/b><\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The “neutral” secular view, I believe, is substantially
\ninadequate, not least because it ultimately refers to at least one “moral”
\nprinciple that is not truly neutral: 
\n<\/span>that individuals ought<\/i> to be
\nas free as possible to self-actualize. 
\n<\/span>The “ought” hangs in mid-air. <\/span><\/p>\n

The common religious view, however, also seems
\nanachronistic, because the examples of Biblical law that supposedly encode
\n“Judeo-Christian ethics” encourage, or at least fail to condemn, cultural
\npractices that today we consider evil or harmful, such as slavery, concubinage,
\nholy war, and polygamy.<\/p>\n

A fascinating recent book about law in the Hebrew Bible is
\nDavid L. Baker, Tight Fists or Open Hands?: Wealth and Poverty in Old Testament Law<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>(Eerdmans 2009).  <\/span>Baker compares various aspects of the
\nLaw reflected in the Hebrew Bible to other law codes from the Ancient Near East
\n(“ANE”).  <\/span>Baker demonstrates that
\nIsrael’s Law in many respects did not differ substantially from other ANE legal
\ncodes.  <\/span>However, in some very important
\nways – particularly in provision for the poor and for outcasts within the
\ncovenant community – Israel’s Law was more generous than other ANE legal codes.<\/p>\n

One example is Israel’s law of slavery.  <\/span>Leviticus 25:44 states that<\/p>\n

“[t]he slaves you may have, male and
\nfemale, [are to come] from the nations around you; from them you may buy male
\nand female slaves.  <\/span>And you may
\nalso buy children of temporary residents living with you . . . and they may
\nbecome your property.  <\/span>You may
\nbequeath them to your children after you as inherited property, you may treat
\nthem as slaves in perpetuity. . . .”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As Baker notes, “[t]he existence of chattel slavery was
\ntaken for granted in the ancient Near east, both by the free population and by
\nthe slaves themselves.  <\/span>There is no
\ntrace of ideological condemnation of the institution as such nor of demands for
\nits abolution. . . . Turning to the Old Testament, we see that chattel slavery
\nis still taken for granted.” 
\n<\/span>(Baker, at p. 119). <\/span><\/p>\n

However, as Baker observes, in the Biblical Law distinctions are made among different kinds of slaves, and members of the
\ncovenant community (i.e., Israelites) cannot become lifetime chattel slaves.  <\/span>In general, Israelites could be
\nsubjected only to temporary debt servitude.  <\/span>When the Israelite debt servant’s obligation was fulfilled, the
\nLaw required the master to “[p]rovide generously for them – sheep, grain and
\nwine – giving to them as the LORD your God has blessed you.”  <\/span>(Deut. 15:13-15.)  <\/span>This provision would help the debt
\nservant get “back on his feet.” 
\n<\/span>These requirements are unique among known ANE legal codes.<\/p>\n

There are a number of possible “explanations” for the Hebrew
\nBible’s slave laws.  <\/span>One common
\nview is that, at least to some extent, the provisions for chattel slavery of
\nnon-Israelits laws represent accommodations to the existing ANE culture.  <\/span>In his outstanding book, Old Testament Ethics for the People of God<\/a>\"\"<\/strong><\/em>, for example, Christopher J.H. Wright states that
\n“[s]lavery was such an integral part of the social, economic and institutional
\nlife of the ancient world contemporary with Old Testament Israel that it is
\ndifficult to see how Israel could have excluded it altogether or effectively
\nabolished it.”  <\/span>Another possible explanation
\nis that the slavery laws, with their distinctions between the covenant
\ncommunity and outsiders, reflect part of God’s judgment of the nations
\nsurrounding Israel.<\/p>\n

These perspectives lead to some important questions about “law”
\nand “mission”:  <\/span>Should positive law be adjusted or
\n“accommodated” to the social norms of the governed population even if those
\nnorms are contrary to fundamental moral principles?  <\/span>What, if anything, would a principle of “legal
\naccommodation” mean for contemporary debates about hot button moral-legal
\ndebates such as abortion and gay marriage?  <\/span>Is it appropriate today in a
\nrepresentative democracy for the “covenant community” – the Church – to accept
\nlower moral-legal standards in the broader culture than those that apply inside
\nthe covenant community?  <\/span>Or should
\nthe covenant community adopt as one of its priorities an “interest group”
\nfunction that seeks to influence the democratic process in favor of its
\nmoral-legal standards? <\/b><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mission, Accommodation, and the Rule of Law … David Opderbeck is a professor of law at Seton Hall University and blogs at Through a Glass Darkly. Debates over law and “culture war” issues, particularly concerning abortion and gay marriage, revolve around the extent to which law should encode morality.  A common secular view is that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gospel"],"yoast_head":"\nLaw at the Jesus Creed: David Opderbeck - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/law-at-the-jesus-creed-david-o-8.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Law at the Jesus Creed: David Opderbeck - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mission, Accommodation, and the Rule of Law … David Opderbeck is a professor of law at Seton Hall University and blogs at Through a Glass Darkly. 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