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Christian perspectives on the limits of the lawChrist and legal issuesCHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES ON THE LIMITS OF THE LAW This book is the fourth in the 'Christian Perspectives on something legal' series, a series which has done much to inspire biblical thinking on legal issues in recent years. The series fits well with wider moves to encourage us to live integrated lives in which every part, particularly that relating to work, is brought under the authority of Christ. The book is effectively a group of essays, each taking as their subject a different legal or social sphere as a lens through which to view the limitations of the law. The exception to this is Julian Rivers's opening survey of four Christian thinkers whose work has been seminal to the development of liberalism (in the political sense). Rivers's purpose is to demonstrate that Christianity is essential to the foundations and sustenance of liberalism, properly constituted. Perhaps the most accessible chapter to those who are not in the legal profession will be the second, on the teaching and practice of Christianity (or indeed any other religion) in schools. David Harte has a very positive outlook on the extent to which the law provides opportunities for children from all backgrounds to meet with the living God, and encourages us to guard them and make the most of them. The remaining chapters are shorter, but no less thought-provoking. Ewan McKendrick argues that society's tendency to place faith in contractual relationships is sadly misplaced, because of our fallenness and fallibility. The penultimate chapter examines whether trustees (e.g. of investments such as pension funds) are able to decide how such funds should be invested. These sorts of decisions about what sort of industries our money should be invested in are ones that face us all, even if the amounts involved are rather smaller! The book ends with a fascinating insight into differing conceptions of the way in which land may be stewarded, and the instructive conclusion that the absolute ownership of land by individuals is a recent, and not particularly widespread, phenomenon. The book is written with lawyers in mind. It is difficult to tell how likely it is that a non-lawyer would begin reading it, let alone finish it. It does assume a basic knowledge of legal concepts, and the style is not always particularly readable. This is a shame, because it highlights the fact that the law is not static, but is open to influence from all sectors of society. The obvious implication is that we each play our part in the way in which the law is developed and implemented. Christians serve in each of the spheres covered by the book - as teachers and school governors, as those entering into commercial contracts, as trustees and investors, and as stewards of land. In all of these areas we have the responsibility and opportunity both to submit to legal authority and to act in ways that point beyond that authority to God's goodness, love and grace. Caroline Eade, © Evangelicals Now - May 2004 |