Events

September 7, 2011

Former Vatican ambassador headlines 'When Law and Religion Meet' lecture series


Mary Ann Glendon

Mary Ann Glendon, Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard University and former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, will tackle the challenges of the universal right to religious freedom in a world of diversity on Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the School of Law.

This year's Harold J. Berman lecturer, Glendon headlines the 2011-2012 "When Law and Religion Meet Lecture Series" presented by the Center for the Study of Law and Religion. Her lecture, "Religious Freedom – A Second Class Right?," is co-sponsored by Emory's Aquinas Center of Theology and is a highlight of the Aquinas Center's silver anniversary celebration.

Glendon is one of the world's leading scholars of comparative family law, religious freedom and human rights.

President of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, Glendon is the first woman to be named president of one of the major pontifical academies. She has held numerous high-ranking appointments, including head of the Vatican delegation to the U.N. Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 and member of the President's Council on Bioethics during the Bush Administration.

The "When Law and Religion Meet Lecture Series" brings distinguished scholars to confront difficult legal, moral, and theological issues facing religious communities. This year's series features five lectures on critical questions creating battles in today's courtrooms, legislatures, and places of worship: genetic cloning and other bio-medical advances, religious freedom in a diverse world, Islamic family law in the West, Jesus and the law of marriage and divorce, and same-sex marriage.

The series kicks off on Tuesday, Sept. 13 at 7:30 p.m. with the Decalogue Lecture,  presented by Rabbi Michael J. Broyde, professor of law and CSLR Senior Fellow, on "The Bioethical Future: Some Jewish Thoughts on Reproductive Ethics."

Related: Book|Report podcast with Michael J. Broyde

The 2011-2012 series includes:

Don S. Browning Lecture

Jan. 25, 12:30 p.m.

John Witte, Jr., Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law, Alonzo L. McDonald Family Foundation Distinguished Professor at Emory University, and CSLR director on "Shari`a in the West? What Place for Religious Family Laws in America and Other Western Democracies?"


Alonzo L. McDonald Lecture in Christianity and Law

Feb. 8, 12:30 p.m.

Luke Timothy Johnson, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Emory and CSLR Senior Fellow on "Jesus and the Law of Marriage and Divorce"


Overton and Lavona Currie Lecture in Law and Religion

March 21, 12:30 p.m.

Michael J. Perry, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law at Emory University and CSLR Senior Fellow on "Freedom of Religion, Same-Sex Marriage, and the Catholic Church"

All lectures take place at Emory School of Law. They are free and open to the public, and no registration is required.

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