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1992 U. Ill. L. Rev. 1007 (1992)
The Spiritual Movement towards Justice

handle is hein.journals/unilllr1992 and id is 1017 raw text is: THE SPIRITUAL MOVEMENT TOWARDS JUSTICEt Anthony E. Cook* Critical Race Theory is the latest addition to the postrealist smor- gasbord of jurisprudence. As its number of advocates, adherents and ad- mirers grows, it is slowly moving from the appetizer to the entree section of jurisprudential offerings in many law schools. Eagerly consumed and digested by some, it is quickly rejected by others who prefer the cold leftovers of process theory, warmed over republicanism, and the much craved law and economics. When fully developed, Critical Race Theory offers a unique oppor- tunity to synthesize many of the currents of postrealist thought, such as critical and feminist legal studies, law and literature, and even, I believe, a more communitarian version of process theory. This opportunity exists because Critical Race Theory is a microcosm of a vast spectrum of the American experience to which postrealist frameworks have generally re- sponded. All of the problems examined by other frames are indigenous to Critical Race Theory. Feminist theory's examination of voice and domination are given added depth and dimension in Kim Crenshaw's exploration of race and gender in the experiences of Black women.1 Crit- ical Legal Studies's critique of liberalism is explored in Gary Peller's ex- amination of the tension between Black nationalism and liberalism.2 The Marxist critique of class relations is explored in the materialist accounts of Kendall Thomas that focus particularly on the intersection of race and class.' My own work attempts to negotiate an uneasy tension between religiously inspired moral visions and secular analyses of oppression that remain hostile, with good reason in many cases, to overarching moral discourses.4 t Speech delivered at the Race Consciousness and Legal Scholarship Conference at the University of Illinois College of Law on February 22, 1992. * Associate Professor of Law, Georgetown Law Center. B.A. 1982, Princeton Univ.; J.D. 1986, Yale. 1. See, e.g., Kimberle Crenshaw, Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics, 1989 U. CHL LEGAL F. 139. 2. See, e.g., Gary Peller, Frontier of Legal Thought III: Race Consciousness, 1990 DUKE L.J. 758. 3. E.g., Kendall Thomas, Comments at Panel on Critical Race Theory, Conference on Fron- tiers of Legal Thought, Duke Law School (Jan. 26, 1990). 4. See, e.g., Anthony E. Cook, Beyond Critical Legal Studies: The Reconstructive Theology of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 103 HARV. L. REv. 985 (1990).

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