A Gateway Between A Distant God And A Cruel World

Through a collective biographical methodology of four scholars 20th century scholars this book investigates how Jewish identity and intellectual ties to Judaic civilisation in the German speaking legal context influenced the international legal discipline.

The Oxford Handbook of International Legal Theory provides an accessible and authoritative guide to the major thinkers, concepts, approaches, and debates that have shaped contemporary international legal theory. The Handbook features 48 original essays by leading international scholars from a wide range of traditions, nationalities, and perspectives, reflecting the richness and diversity of this dynamic field. The collection explores key questions and debates in international legal theory, offers new intellectual histories for the discipline, and provides fresh interpretations of significant historical figures, texts, and theoretical approaches. It provides a much-needed map of the field of international legal theory, and a guide to the main themes and debates that have driven theoretical work in international law. The Handbook will be an indispensable reference work for students, scholars, and practitioners seeking to gain an overview of current theoretical debates about the nature, function, foundations, and future role of international law.

This book examines the relation between religion and jurisprudence, God, and peace respectively. It argues that in order to elucidate the possible role religion can play in the contemporary world, it is useful to analyse religion by associating it with other concepts. Why peace? Because peace is probably the greatest promise made by religions and the greatest concern in the contemporary world. Why jurisprudence? Because, quoting Kelsen’s famous book "Peace through Law", peace is usually understood as something achievable by international legal instruments. But what if we replace "Peace through Law" with "Peace through Religion"? Does law, as an instrument for achieving peace, incorporate a religious dimension? Is law, ultimately, a religious and normative construction oriented to peace, to the protection of humanity, in order to keep humans from the violence of nature? Is the hope for peace rational, or just a question of faith? Is religion itself a question of faith or a rational choice? Is the relatively recent legal concept of “responsibility to protect” a secular expression of the oldest duty of humankind? The book follows the structure of interdisciplinary research in which the international legal scholar, the moral philosopher, the philosopher of religion, the theologian, and the political scientist contribute to the construction of the necessary bridges. Moreover, it gives voice to different monotheistic traditions and, more importantly, it analyses religion in the various dimensions in which it determines the authors' cultures: as a set of rituals, as a source of moral norms, as a universal project for peace, and as a political discourse.

The essays collected for this volume represent the best scholarly literature on Hugo Grotius available in the English language. In the English speaking world Grotius is not as well known as his fellow 17th century political philosophers, Thomas Hobbes or John Locke, but in legal theory Grotius is at least as important. Even on central political concepts such as liberty and property, Grotius has important views that should be explored by anyone working in legal and political philosophy. And Grotius‘s work, especially De Jure Belli ac Pacis, is much more important in international law and the laws of war than anyone else‘s work in the 17th or 18th centuries. This volume is therefore useful not only to Grotius scholars, but also to anyone interested in historical and modern debates on key issues in political and legal philosophy more broadly, and international law in particular.

This books maps out the territory of international law and religion challenging received traditions in fundamental aspects. On the one hand, the connection of international law and religion has been little explored. On the other, most of current research on international legal thought presents international law as the very victory of secularization. By questioning that narrative of secularization this book approaches these traditions from a new perspective. From the Middle Ages' early conceptualizations of rights and law to contemporary political theory, the chapters bring to life debates concerning the interaction of the meaning of the legal and the sacred. The contributors approach their chapters from an array of different backgrounds and perspectives but with the common objective of investigating the mutually shaping relationship of religion and law. The collaborative endeavour that this volume offers makes available substantial knowledge on the question of international law and religion.

In Political Theology and International Law, John D. Haskell offers an account of the intellectual debates surrounding political theology among international law scholars and argues that experts turn to a politics of truth.

Fourteen leading scholars explore the lives of seven of the most famous Jewish lawyers in the history of international law.