By Edward A. David McDonald Postdoctoral Fellow in Christian Ethics and Public Life, University of Oxford 24 February 2023. A short paper for the Centre for Theology, Law, and Culture at Pusey House, Oxford Churches can be forgiven for describing themselves, like any other civil society organization, as “voluntary.” This Lockean portrayal, after all, dominatesContinue reading “Church Autonomy and the Corpus Mysticum Tradition”
Tag Archives: religious institutionalism
Religious Liberty and Corporate Metaphysics
By Edward A. David McDonald Postdoctoral Fellow in Christian Ethics and Public Life, University of Oxford 23 February 2023, Recollection Lecture, Pusey House, Oxford Introduction Thank you to the Centre for Theology, Law, and Culture for the kind invitation to speak today, ahead of a symposium dedicated to the topic of corporate persons. The aimContinue reading “Religious Liberty and Corporate Metaphysics”
Church, State, and Virtue in Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo (2020)
To curb the spread of COVID-19, houses of worship in the State of New York were legally required to limit attendance at religious ceremonies. Two religious communities—the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and the Orthodox Jewish organization, Agudath Israel of America—asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. This article provides a theological interpretation of theContinue reading “Church, State, and Virtue in Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo (2020)”
Lecture: Religious institutionalism at Oxford’s University Church
I recently spoke to the Graduate Theological Society at the University of Oxford about the moral foundations of religious institutionalism (or church autonomy doctrine) in the United States. James Hooks, a DPhil student, led the discussion. We spoke around the following theses: A predominate view of religious institutionalism tends to reduce the value of housesContinue reading “Lecture: Religious institutionalism at Oxford’s University Church”
Edward A. David 