Guest lecture: On the road to Jericho—The Talmud's walk between Christian ethics and the common law

Abstract

This session examines how the Gospels, Talmud, and the common law tradition each grapple with a central question of collective life: when can one person lay claim on the time and resources of another to come to their aid? In examining how these divergent traditions answer, we find insight not only into the nature and scope of obligation but into the role of law and legal discourse in moral character formation.

Speaker

Professor Chaim Saiman is the Chair in Jewish Law and Professor of Law at the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. He is also a Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America and serves as a dayan (rabbinic judge) of the Beth Din of America. 

Event

This guest lecture is a spin-off from the Faculty of Divinity’s Religious Studies seminar.