Religion, Law, and Democracy: Selected Writings

Description

Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde (1930-2019) was one of Europe's foremost legal scholars and political thinkers. As a scholar of constitutional law and a judge on Germany's Federal Constitutional Court (1983-1996), Böckenförde was a major contributor to contemporary debates in legal and political theory, to the conceptual framework of the modern state and its presuppositions, and to contested political issues such as the constitutional status of the state of emergency, citizenship rights, bioethical politics, and the challenges of European integration. His writings have shaped not only academic but also wider public debates from the 1950s to the present, to an extent that few European scholars can match. As a federal constitutional judge and holder of a trusted public office, Böckenförde has influenced the way academics and citizens think about law and politics. During his tenure on the Court, several path-breaking decisions for the Federal Republic of Germany were handed down, including decisions on the deployment of missiles, the law on political parties, the regulation of abortion, and the process of European integration. This second volume in the first representative edition in English of Böckenförde's writings brings together his essays on religion, law, and democracy. The volume is organized in five sections: I. the Catholic Church and Political Order; II. State and Secularity; III. the Theology of Law and its Relation to Political Theory; IV. Norms and the Principle of Human Dignity; and V. Excerpts from a biographical interview. Sections I, II, III, and IV are preceded by an editors' introduction to the articles as well as running editorial commentary to the work. Preface Table of Contents Translator’s Note • Thomas Dunlap Freedom in Religion, Freedom in the State: Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde on Religion, Law, and Democracy • Mirjam Künkler PART I: CATHOLIC CHURCH ANDPOLITICAL ORDER Böckenförde on the Relation of the Catholic Church and Christians to Democracy and Authoritarianism • Mirjam Künkler and Tine Stein I. The Ethos of Modern Democracy and the Church [1957] II. German Catholicism in 1933: A Critical Examination [1961] III. Types of Christian Conduct in the World during the Nazi Regime [1965/2004] IV. Religious Freedom between the Conflicting Demands of Church and State [1964–79] PART II. STATE AND SECULARITY Böckenförde on the Secular State and Secular Law • Mirjam Künkler and Tine Stein V. The Rise of the State as a Process of Secularization [1967] VI. The Fundamental Right of Freedom of Conscience [1970] VII. Remarks on the Relationship between State and Religion in Hegel [1982] VIII. The Secularized State: Its Character, Justification, and Problems in the Twenty-first Century [2007] PART III. ON THE THEOLOGY OF LAWAND POLITICAL THEORY Böckenförde on the Relationship Between Theology, Law, and Political Theory • Mirjam Künkler and Tine Stein IX. Political Theory and Political Theology: Comments on their Reciprocal Relationship [1981] X. Reflections on a Theology of Modern Secular Law [1999] XI. A Christian in the Office of Constitutional Judge [1999] XII. On the Authority of Papal Encyclicals: The Example of Pronouncements on Religious Freedom [2006] PART IV. BASIC NORMS AND THE PRINCIPLE OF HUMAN DIGNITY Böckenförde on the Right to Life, Human Dignity, and its Meta-positive Foundations • Mirjam Künkler and Tine Stein XIII. Abolition of Section 218 of the Criminal Code? Reflections on the Current Debate about the Prohibition of Abortion in German Criminal Law [1971] XIV. Human Dignity as a Normative Principle: Fundamental Rights in the Bioethics Debate [2003] XV. Will Human Dignity Remain Inviolable? [2004] PART V. BÖCKENFÖRDE IN CONTEXT XVI. Biographical Interview with Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde [2011] Appendix 1: List of Original Titles Appendix 2: Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde: List of Publications Appendix 3: Address given by Federal President Joachim Gauck on the Occasion of Awarding the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany to Prof. Dr. Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde on 29 April 2016 at Schloss Bellevue Index