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176 Law & Just. - Christian L. Rev. 59 (2016)
Catholic and Protestant Approaches to Law: Some Initial Thoughts

handle is hein.journals/ljusclr176 and id is 61 raw text is: CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT APPROACHES TO LAW: SOME INITIAL THOUGHTS JOHN DUDDINGTON Introduction Whether 2017 is actually the 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation is something which will be, and has been, debated over the years. What is, however, clear is that next year will be recognised as such and there will be a good deal of thinking on the precise consequences of this split in Christendom. The extent to which Catholic and Protestant approaches to law have diverged is, of course, one that is very much within the scope of this journal, given that our raison d'etre is the Christian influence on law. Moreover, if we feel that the thinking of Christianity has a contribution to make to current legal thinking then this topic is of crucial importance It is intended to hold a conference on this in 2017 of which the details will be in the next issue and meanwhile the following thoughts are offered to prompt thinking and, I hope, contributions to the journal on this topic. What is clear to me, having seen so many contributions on these topics to this journal in my time as editor, is how much oversimplification there is. Catholics are for natural law, Protestants are not. Protestants, rather than Catholics, first promoted the idea of human rights. An objective notion of conscience is found only in Catholic thought. This all sounds rather like the current EU referendum debate! There is in fact something in all of these statements but one needs to dig deeper. Let us take this further for a while and set the scene by looking briefly at the relationship between church and state. The relationship between Church and State Catholics are sometimes accustomed to thinking that, in contrast to the Catholic position, in Protestant thought there is in some cases a subordination of the Church to the State and also, possibly based on Luther's 'two swords' doctrine a separation of the two realms with the

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