From the publisher: “[This book explores the broad range of ways in which Christian thought intersects with American legal theory.] [L]egal scholars―including Stephen Carter, Thomas Shaffer, Elizabeth Mensch, Gerard Bradley, and Marci Hamilton―describe how various Christian traditions, including the Catholic, Calvinist, Anabaptist, and Lutheran traditions, understand law and justice, society and the state, and human nature and human striving. The book reveals not only the diversity among Christian legal thinkers but also the richness of the Christian tradition as a source for intellectual and ethical approaches to legal inquiry. The contributors bring various perspectives to the subject. Some engage the prominent schools of legal thought: liberalism, legal realism, critical legal studies, feminism, critical race theory, and law and economics. Others address substantive areas, including environmental, criminal, contract, tort, and family law, as well as professional responsibility.”

Cochran’s chapter uses H. Richard Niebuhr’s five classifications of how Christians approach culture from his book Christ and Culture to discuss the different approaches Christian traditions take toward law.