The Gospels record how in the course of His ministry, Jesus was challenged by scribes and pharisees on issues pertaining to Jewish religious law that had ancient traditions. The response of Jesus response was to summarise the law and the prophets in the duty toward God and the duty toward humanity. His demeanour at His trials by religious and civil establishments was to allow His actions to speak for themselves. Unsurprisingly therefore, from the outset, Christianity and law were intertwined. This handbook from Oxford University Press introduces the modern reader to the complexities of that involvement over two millennia.

The editors state in the preface that their objective is to provide an ‘authorative and accessible analysis of the interactions of Christianity and law – historically and today, in theory and in practice’. That is accomplished in 60 chapters written by a diverse group of interdisciplinary scholars from five continents. Such a reach reflects the ambit of Christianity and the size of the editors’ task.

The handbook is divided into six parts whose importance will vary with the reader’s interest. Part I addressing Christianity and law in their historical perspective is the longest. Here there are 16 fascinating chapters including medieval Scholasticism, the development of the classical canon law, law in the Reformations, and on church establishment in Europe following the 1648 settlements in the Netherlands and the peace of Westphalia. Christianity and law in the early Americas and the enlightenment are not overlooked before the part concludes with two chapters on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Thereafter the parts are arranged within broad themes to introduce in Part II the global interaction of Christianity and law today in Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, the former Soviet States, and Asia divided into three parts viz. Northeastern, Southeastern, and China. Part III considers Christianity’s influence on core legal subjects from constitutional law to property, tort and taxation. Part IV addresses the Catholic and Orthodox approaches to Canon law and that of the Protestant Churches before addressing natural and human rights law, religious freedom both in western and Asian contexts culminating in an examination of law in Church–state relations. Part V focuses on Christianity and emerging areas of law. These fascinating chapters are very much the issues of our times as seven essays examine the ecological crisis, migration, health care, biotechnology, legal ethics, and racial and global justice.

The concluding Part VI considers the influence of Christianity in establishing enduring legal principles and values. These chapters consider the essence of the Christian message under headings of love, justice, human dignity, and equality leading to consideration of the Rule of Law, Sovereignty and Judgement. Fittingly, the concluding chapter written by Rafael Domingo (one of the editors), is Christianity Solidarity and Law. Domingo concludes that solidarity goes beyond justice to touch on charity. The closer it comes to the idea of love and service the more human solidarity manifests the solidarity of the Trinity. Implementation requires a profound spiritualisation of society so that Christianity and law must go hand in hand.

I read Economics and Politics at Trinity College Dublin in the early 1970s before studying the core legal subjects to qualify as a solicitor in 1977. My legal study embraced neither constitutional law nor European law, still less environmental law, human rights law or many of the other perspectives addressed in this absorbing volume. While practising and as part of multi-disciplinary teams supporting large, often international commercial transactions, I saw some new subjects evolve. Others such as human rights, migration and racial justice never crossed the table of a commercial property lawyer. Neither the issues of Orthodox canon law nor the law of Church–state relations impinged on training for the auxiliary ministry of the Church of Ireland. Consequently, reading this volume is a wonderful introduction to new subjects, many of which, in an evolving world, feature regularly on our screens as news or documentaries.

The subjects introduced by this volume are not all the stuff of daily practice. Some such as the rule of law, sovereignty, judgement and solidarity take a more theoretical approach to highlight the impact of Christianity and Christian principles on jurisprudence. Reverting to the Scholastics, divided into civilians and canonists, we wonder if their principle princeps legibus solutus est (the prince is not bound by laws) is to be found in the doctrine that legislation affecting Crown interests requires the ‘King’s Consent’, as distinct from the Royal Assent to legislation.Footnote ¹ Perhaps the principle echoes also in aspects of a recent decision of the Supreme Court in Washington DC.Footnote ²

In a single volume the interaction of Christianity and Law throughout all legal systems and their differing religious (or perhaps repudiated underlying religious) backgrounds could not possibly be examined. Others such as feminism, liberation theology, and Marxism which appear in the index, might have merited closer attention given their implicit social criticism of the house Christendom built.

Each of the essays is a standalone piece. Nevertheless, given the division of the volume into parts, the editors faced an allocation challenge. This is highlighted in a chapter of Part III discussing the relationship between Christianity and the criminal law. Here we read of the scholastic contribution to the evolution of that concept, including the work of Peter Abelard (d. 1142) distinguishing crime from sin. The challenge of itself suggests an approach to using this volume. It is fascinating to create a thread, starting for example with Christianity and Constitutional law in chapter 26, to then refer back to the basic principles of Medieval Jurisprudence in chapter 6 before turning to Christianity and Human Rights law in chapter 43. That thread raises many issues not least the origin of the Declarations of Human Rights and their underlying philosophy/jurisprudence/morality. Some will query if it matters whether these stem from Aquinas, Paine or a revulsion against the barbarous events of the twentieth century. One senses that underlying reasons do matter if Christian values are to be sustained. But how is this to be achieved when the pressure is to privatise religious opinions, and frown upon their expression by contributors to the public square?

While applauding all of the strengths of this volume, it is predominantly an Anglophone work with 34 of 65 contributors from the United States, nine from the United Kingdom and one from Canada. Within this the American viewpoint perhaps predominates, an example being consideration of the tort of negligence where Palsgraf v Long Island Railroad Company (NY 1928 162 N.E. 99) is analysed but the Neighbour principle of Lord Atkin enunciated in Donoghue v Stevenson (1932 AC 562, 579) is not mentioned, still less the direction to the jury in Di Paolo v Kila (1960 23 DLR (2d) 362) that the test of ‘duty’ was laid down in the Book of Common Prayer. That direction was reversed on appeal.Footnote ³ Perhaps a doctoral candidate might examine whether the Christian sources influencing law may vary by jurisdiction.

These 850 pages provide a refreshing and exciting introduction to the rich background with which Christianity infuses so many aspects of law throughout the world, made accessible by a useful 57-page index. The essays are commendably approachable so that they may be readily read by people without legal or theological training, and may be equally fertile when making up a case or preparing a sermon. Each essay concludes with endnotes supplemented by compact recommendations for further reading. The editors, supported by their contributors, have succeeded in their objective of broadening the understanding of lawyers, clerics and the interested lay person of either profession. This volume is therefore to be greatly welcomed despite its intimidating price.