Law and theology: Reflections on what it means to be human from a Franciscan perspective

• Published in: St. John's law review Vol. 74; no. 3; p. 609
• Main Author: Coughlin, John J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brooklyn St. John's Law Review Association 01.07.2000
• Subjects: Abortion; Anthropology; Law; Law schools; Political theory; Politics; Power; Religion; Religious orders; Society; Supreme Court decisions; Theology; Theory; Traditions; Values; United States > US
• ISSN: 0036-2905; 2168-8796

A discussion is presented regarding Franciscan theology and the law. Specifically, this article considers a question that has been the focus of a great deal of theological discussion during the course of the last century: What does it mean to be human? Every system of law reflects certain foundational assumptions about what it means to be human. The concept of justice operative in the legal culture of the modern liberal state, for example, tends to manifest the anthropological assumptions of the classical liberal political theory. The liberal theorists viewed the human person as a radically autonomous individual, who consented to leave the freedom of the state of nature, and to enter the social contract in order to protect the natural rights of life, liberty, and property. This fundamental anthropological assumption has produced a great deal of individual freedom that remains characteristic of the modern democratic society. When understood in the proper perspective, autonomy and the correlative suspicion of government power can be seen as important goods. At the same time, the hermeneutics of autonomy and suspicion have tended to affect the legal order and culture in ways that seem to detract from a balanced anthropological perspective. The anthropological problem posed by liberal theory may be corrected through Franciscan anthropology.