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In the medieval university, disputatio was the formal process of debate and discussion of arguments and ideas. It was the art of disputing, a kind of intellectual joust, and meant to discover the truth of the matter in question.
“And first, it is manifest that law in general is not counsel, but command; nor a command of any man to any man, but only of him whose command us addressed to one formerly obliged to obey him. And as for civil law, it addeth only the name of the person commanding, which is persona […]
The Elections Clause of the Constitution states: “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.” In this episode, Kevin […]
Our latest Sub Deo podcast, “In which we discuss prudence, precedents, principles, practices, purposes, and more,” this time reflecting on a wonderful conference we attended of the Florida state appellate judiciary. Kevin and I were very impressed with the thoughtfulness and diligence of the judges we met.
I have an essay up at Public Discourse, Saving Religion From Incoherence, on the Supreme Court’s new case, Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin, concerning whether state violated the First Amendment when it held that Catholic Charities did not qualify for a tax exemption under the Wisconsin unemployment statute because it did not “operate primarily […]
From an interesting, unpublished, opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, McDowell v. Bayhealth Medical Center, Inc. The case itself was not that uncommon. It concerned a Title VII matter: the defendant required its employees to receive a COVID vaccine in order to work, with possible exemptions for religious or medical […]
A nice piece by Paul Seaton on the political thinker, Pierre Manent, published over at Public Discourse. Seaton summarizes some of Manent’s key themes over the years. Here are a few lines from one of my own favorite of Manent’s books, Metamorphoses of the City: On the Western Dynamic (2013, English edition), a highly Augustinian […]
I was delighted to offer some remarks on this occasion. Here is the video of the event:
We often hear, quite rightly, that the Church and her members should “go to the margins,” to “meet people where they are,” and to practice the art of human encounter, especially with the vulnerable, the poor, and the downtrodden. As Pope Francis exhorted in Evangelii Gaudium, “all of us are asked to obey his call […]
Yuval Levin has a typically insightful essay, A New Hope for Saving the Universities, at “Commentary.” In it he describes the interesting growth of centers of civic education within certain existing university structures–most (though not all) of them state schools–and the opportunities for university reform that they offer. The essay is replete with the themes […]
Todd Ream (Indiana Wesleyan) interviewed me, as one episode on a six-part series for the Christian Scholar’s Review. We discussed the concept of human flourishing in the law, the nature and role of obligation in the law, some of the themes in my own work (tradition, the civic ties that bind us, and the limits […]
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