Conceptions of Law and Liberty in the Abrahamic Faith Traditions
ABSTRACT
This conference explored the roots of conceptions of law and liberty, and their interrelations in the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions. These traditions have been the source of immensely influential conceptions of law, its ground, and its purpose, and they are also sources of conceptions of human liberty, why it matters, and how it is grounded in law. Examining key thinkers in these traditions, from late antiquity to the early modern period, informed our understanding of fundamental issues and supplied us with resources for understanding the relevance of crucial periods in these traditions.
READING LIST
Conference Readings
The New Oxford Annotated Bible With the Apocrypha. Edited by Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977.
Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1985.
al-Ghazali, Abu Hamid Muhammad. The Incoherence of the Philosophers. Translated by Michael Marmura. Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 2000.
Aquinas, Thomas. Thomas Aquinas: Selected Writings. Edited by Ralph McInerny. New York: Penguin Classics, 1999.
Gaon, Saadia. The Book of Beliefs and Opinions. Translated by Samuel Rosenblatt. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976.
Lerner, Ralph and Muhsin Mahdi. Medieval Political Philosophy: A Sourcebook. Edited by Ralph Lerner and Muhsin Mahdi. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1972.
Maimonides, Moses. Ethical Writings of Maimonides. New York: Dover Publications, 1975.
Mohammed. The Holy Qur-An. Lahore: Ahmadiyya Anjuman-I-Ishaat-I-Islam, 1920.
Moses Maimonides. Guide for the Perplexed. Edited by Raymond Weiss and Charles Butterworth. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963.
Saint Augustine. On Free Choice of the Will. Translated by Anna Benjamin and L.H. Hackstaff. New York: Prentice Hall, 1964.
St. Anselm. Anselm of Canterbury: The Major Works. Edited by Brian Davies and G.R. Evans. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.