What is Internal Law of Religions?: An Approach Based on Wittgenstein’s Family Resemblances

The still emerging discipline of comparative religious law is faced with the task to define its object, which is the internal law of religions. What, for example, do Protestant church law, Islamic and Hindu law have in common? Prior attempts at a definition – e.g. those by Puza or Vanderlinden – do...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Quaderni di diritto e politica ecclesiastica
Main Author: Berkmann, Burkhard Josef 1976- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Il Mulino 2019
In: Quaderni di diritto e politica ecclesiastica
Year: 2019, Volume: 22, Issue: Speciale, Pages: 203-211
IxTheo Classification:SA Church law; state-church law
SB Catholic Church law
Further subjects:B Comparative law
B Law
B Religion
B Definition
B Typology
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:The still emerging discipline of comparative religious law is faced with the task to define its object, which is the internal law of religions. What, for example, do Protestant church law, Islamic and Hindu law have in common? Prior attempts at a definition – e.g. those by Puza or Vanderlinden – do not completely satisfy. The author pursues a new path by elaborating a typological definition in the sense of Wittgenstein’s family resemblances. He lists a series of characteristics applicable to most religious laws, although not every religious law fulfils all of them. Examples are: revelation as a source of law, binding force only for the respective faithful, worship and doctrine of faith as matters to be regulated.
Contains:Enthalten in: Quaderni di diritto e politica ecclesiastica
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1440/95755