Thinking Biblically about Church, State, and Jurisdiction: A Talk by Prof. Lael Weinberger

About The Video

Prof. Lael Weinberger is the Olin-Searle-Smith Fellow in Law at Harvard Law School. He was the Raoul Berger-Mark DeWolfe Howe Legal History Fellow at Harvard from 2019-20. Prof. Weinberger earned a JD with high honors from the University of Chicago Law School and clerked for Judge Frank Easterbrook on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and for Chief Justice Daniel Eismann on the Idaho Supreme Court. He also earned a PhD in history at the University of Chicago. His research interests include constitutional law, international law, civil procedure, law and religion, American legal history, and the legal profession.

The “separation of church and state” has long been a controversial phrase in American law, politics, and culture. Does it mean that the state needs to be protected from the church, or the church from the state? Does it mean that religion is irrelevant to politics or a threat to politics? Does it mean that churches are valued or distrusted by the state (or vice versa)? Is the “separation of church and state” just a good or a bad idea? Join Prof. Weinberger as he discusses his research on what the Bible has to say about the two fundamental institutions of church and state and their jurisdiction.