The Sins of the Fathers

Informationen zum Autor John Witte, Jr is Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law and Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. His most recent publications include Law and Protestantism: The Legal Teachings of the Lutheran Reformation (2002), The Reformation of Rights: Law, Religion and Human Rights in Early Modern Calvinism (2007), and Christianity and Law: An Introduction (2008) co-edited by Frank S. Alexander. Klappentext Illegitimate children suffered centuries of discrimination under Western law. This analysis reveals how misinterpretations of biblical texts supported this injustice. Zusammenfassung Witte analyzes the shifting laws and logics of illegitimacy in the Western tradition offering an incisive critique of this historical doctrine and its renewed expression among neo-conservatives in church and state. Illegitimacy doctrine! he argues! misinterprets several biblical texts and disregards cardinal Christian teachings of individual accountability and Christian community. Inhaltsverzeichnis Preface and acknowledgements; Introduction: the paradoxes of illegitimacy; 1. Suffer the innocent children: illegitimacy in early Judaism and Christianity; 2. Woe to bastards: the classic Roman law of illegitimacy and legitimation; 3. The wages of sin: sex, marriage and illegitimacy in medieval canon law; 4. Heir of no one: the English common law of illegitimacy and its reforms; 5. The rights of all children: the new law of non-marital childhood in America and beyond; Concluding reflections; Bibliography; Biblical index; Index.

Klappentext

Illegitimate children suffered centuries of discrimination under Western law. This analysis reveals how misinterpretations of biblical texts supported this injustice.

Zusammenfassung
Witte analyzes the shifting laws and logics of illegitimacy in the Western tradition offering an incisive critique of this historical doctrine and its renewed expression among neo-conservatives in church and state. Illegitimacy doctrine, he argues, misinterprets several biblical texts and disregards cardinal Christian teachings of individual accountability and Christian community.

Inhalt

Preface and acknowledgements; Introduction: the paradoxes of illegitimacy; 1. Suffer the innocent children: illegitimacy in early Judaism and Christianity; 2. Woe to bastards: the classic Roman law of illegitimacy and legitimation; 3. The wages of sin: sex, marriage and illegitimacy in medieval canon law; 4. Heir of no one: the English common law of illegitimacy and its reforms; 5. The rights of all children: the new law of non-marital childhood in America and beyond; Concluding reflections; Bibliography; Biblical index; Index.