Law & Catholic Social Thought

Catalog description

On its website Loyola University Chicago defines itself as "Chicago's Jesuit, Catholic university." It also makes clear that Loyola is fiercely dedicated to promoting "social justice." Likewise, in its Mission Statement, the Law School claims to be "inspired by the Jesuit tradition" and that it seeks "to prepare graduates who will be ethical advocates for justice and equity." Did you ever wonder what this means? What is the justice that Loyola claims to support? There are, of course, many ways of defining justice, and many critical perspectives through which law may be examined: Law & Economics, Legal Positivism, Classical Liberalism, Rawlsian Welfare State Liberalism, Legal Feminism, Legal Realism (and its successor Critical Legal Studies) and Critical Race Theory. For each of these schools of thought there is a whole body of literature that addresses the basic questions of jurisprudence: What is law? What is justice? And what is the relationship between the two? What are rights? And where do they come from? How are law and morality alike, and how are they different? Is law simply the exercise of coercive power or is it something more? There is, in fact, an older school of thought from which these others are derived - a tradition that matches them in depth and rigor. The Judeo-Christian tradition has been thinking about questions of law and justice for well over two millennia. Moreover, since the late 19th century, with the advent of industrialization and urbanization and the new social problems brought on by these phenomena, the Catholic Church has been offering its reflections on questions of law and justice in a body of thought known as Catholic Social Teaching. This literature is composed of papal letters (called encyclicals), documents from the Second Vatican Council, and other magisterial texts. In the course we will read samples of this literature as we think about contemporary problems and possible legal solutions: poverty, racism, capital and labor, globalization, war and peace, environmental deterioration, the family, marriage and sexuality, cultural and religious pluralism. The course will not, however, simply be an historical review of abstract concepts and ideas within the tradition. Law is a practical art, and legal concepts and theories have meaning in application. They are best understood when their consequences are laid bare. Thus, in conjunction with the various documents from Catholic Social Teaching described above, students will also read a number of cases that will help them examine the meaning of these ideas in concrete terms. The aim of this two credit course is philosophical analysis and critical reflection. To this end, students will be required to submit a 2-4 page reflection paper every other week. The goal is for students to emerge from the course not only with a better understanding of law and justice, but with an appreciation for what their own beliefs might mean in the practice of law. The option of a third course credit is available for students who are willing to write an additional paper of at least 20-pages.