Law and Religion
The Law and Religion working group focuses on the interrelations
of law, religion, and society in this and other cultures. Various
legal systems – local, national, and global – have
been shaped historically by the religious systems on which they
were constructed, which they encountered later and which were transported
into their society through the adoption of foreign legal systems.
While the standard presumptions are that a religious foundation
is a necessity for a legal system, or that law and religion are
naturally dissociated in a society, this group would like to interrogate
that relationship by asking: What shapes the differential reception
of religious or legal systems as they move into new cultures and
societies? What religious responses have there been to modern legal
developments? What legal responses have there been to historic
and modern religious changes and why? How are moral and ethical
ideas manifested in sociolegal contexts?
Other areas of interest include the theatricality, authority,
ritual, and language of religion as it has been employed in a legal
system; how a religion informs specific local legal practice; what
the social and political formations of particular legal/religious
systems are; what role "texts" play in each: what theories
relate law, religion, and society in new and useful ways; and,
finally, how current movements in the U.S. and elsewhere link law
and religion in society.
The Law and Buddhism Project, directed by legal anthropologist
Rebecca French, has evolved in parallel with the Law and Religion
Working Group and the Baldy Center. See here for details .
The Law and Religion Working Group created a reading group in 2004
that meets regularly. Members of the Working Group have been
important in facilitating and helping organize the September 2006
visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Buffalo, in particular
the Interfaith Service and the scholarly conference "Law,
Buddhism, and Social Change: A Conversation with the Dalai Lama." See
Calendar below.
Coordinators
Jeannette Ludwig University at Buffalo, Department
of Romance Languages and Literatures
935 Clemens Hall • College of Arts & Sciences • Buffalo,
NY 14260
phone: 716.645.2191 x1175 email: jmludwig@acsu.buffalo.edu
Elizabeth Mensch University at Buffalo Law School
720 O'Brian Hall • Buffalo, NY 14260 phone: 716.645.3035
email: mensch@buffalo.edu
Calendar for 2006
- September 20-21, 2006
- Conference on Law, Buddhism, and Social Change: A Conversation
with the Dalai Lama
Organized by Rebecca French, UB Law Details
-
- Wednesday, February 22, 2006
- Presentation and discussion with Ivette
Vargas, Asian Religions/Religious
Studies, Austin College on "Tibetan Buddhism."
-
Baldy Center For Law & Social Policy
511 O'Brian Hall, University at Buffalo Law School
Buffalo, NY 14260
716.645.2102
