Book contents
- The Blessings of Liberty
- Law and Christianity
- The Blessings of Liberty
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Christian Contributions to the Development of Rights and Liberties in the Western Legal Tradition
- 2 Magna Cartas Old and New
- 3 Natural Law and Natural Rights in the Early Protestant Tradition
- 4 “A Most Mild and Equitable Establishment of Religion”
- 5 Historical Foundations and Enduring Fundamentals of American Religious Freedom
- 6 Balancing the Guarantees of No Establishment and Free Exercise of Religion in American Education
- 7 Tax Exemption of Religious Property
- 8 Faith in Strasbourg?
- 9 Meet the New Boss of Religious Freedom
- Concluding Reflections Toward a Christian Defense of Human Rights and Religious Freedom Today
- Index
1 - Christian Contributions to the Development of Rights and Liberties in the Western Legal Tradition
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 October 2021
- The Blessings of Liberty
- Law and Christianity
- The Blessings of Liberty
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Christian Contributions to the Development of Rights and Liberties in the Western Legal Tradition
- 2 Magna Cartas Old and New
- 3 Natural Law and Natural Rights in the Early Protestant Tradition
- 4 “A Most Mild and Equitable Establishment of Religion”
- 5 Historical Foundations and Enduring Fundamentals of American Religious Freedom
- 6 Balancing the Guarantees of No Establishment and Free Exercise of Religion in American Education
- 7 Tax Exemption of Religious Property
- 8 Faith in Strasbourg?
- 9 Meet the New Boss of Religious Freedom
- Concluding Reflections Toward a Christian Defense of Human Rights and Religious Freedom Today
- Index
Summary
This chapter analyzes the gradual and escalating development of human rights and religious freedom protections over the past two millennia. The chapter surveys the discovery and accumulation of rights and liberties in biblical texts and their interpretations over the centuries; in classical Roman law and the medieval civil, canon, and common law sources that built on the Bible and Roman law; in the Protestant Reformation and the Protestant–Catholic conflicts and revolts that followed; in Enlightenment liberalism and modern constitutional reforms born of democratic revolution; and in twentieth-century international human rights documents beginning with the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Setting up the more detailed studies that follow, the chapter identifies several essential and enduring questions about the intersections of religion, human rights and religious freedom that still confront states and churches today.
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- The Blessings of LibertyHuman Rights and Religious Freedom in the Western Legal Tradition, pp. 14 - 44Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021