Rethinking Law and Religion

Should law and religion be a clearly defined subdiscipline of legal academia? Or part of a broader approach spanning wider legal scholarship? This is a question that few outside academic legal departments are likely to have considered. But for Russell Sandberg, Professor of Law at Cardiff University, it is a key philosophical question. His recent book Rethinking Law and Religion reflects on his career and how his thinking on the role of the subdiscipline has evolved. -- Helen Nicholls, National Secular Society Understanding the intellectual history of a field is often neglected. Fortunately, Professor Sandberg has performed a valuable service in diagnosing where Law and Religion currently languishes. By grasping its opportunities, Sandberg hopes, as do I, that it may yet grow into a permanent and mature sub-discipline in the panoply of legal (and religious) subjects. -- Rex Ahdar, University of Otago, New Zealand A new look from inside the law and religion work field: when it took shape, how it developed, who made the key choices and why now the whole building risks to collapse. A story of missed opportunities and an enlightening reflection on how to rethink this area of study and teaching. -- Silvio Ferrari, University of Milan, Italy For upwards of a decade, Professor Sandberg has been the grit in the oyster of Law and Religion scholarship, challenging established norms and creating fresh dynamics. Creative, witty and erudite, this volume is more than a rethink it is a wholesale disrupter. -- Mark Hill KC, University of Notre Dame, UK A wide ranging, but explicitly personal, account of the intellectual history of the study of Law and Religion which everyone interested in law and religion should read. -- Peter Edge, Oxford Brookes University, UK

Russell Sandberg, Professor of Law, Cardiff University, UK

Contents: Preface 1 Navel battles 2 Getting personal PART I REPENTANCE 3 Creation myths 4 A false dawn 5 A paper tiger 6 The American dream 7 My confession Excursus I PART II REAPPRAISAL 8 The first comparator: law and inequalities 9 Law and gender 10 Law and race 11 The second comparator: law and humanities 12 Law and history 13 Law and geography Excursus 2 PART III REGENERATION 14 Systems reboot 15 The lure of Luhmann 16 The deparadoxification strategies of religion law 17 Religious law as a social system 18 Systems upgrade 19 Rewriting history Excursus 3 PART IV CONCLUSION 20 So what