Text, Tradition, and Reason in Comparative Perspective: an Introduction

In the fall of 2004, the Program in Jewish Law and Interdisciplinary Studies of Cardozo School of Law organized an international conference on the competing claims to authority of text, tradition, and reason in both law and religion. The conference was predicated on the view that legal and religious traditions share a common interpretive structure and face common dilemmas over how to integrate the often contradictory claims of foundational texts, historical traditions of textual interpretation, and reason. Representatives of the American constitutional tradition, the three major monotheistic religions, and Confucianism took part. The interdisciplinary spirit of the Symposium also was enhanced by the decision to invite scholars working in a wide variety of fields, including law, religious studies, anthropology, political theory, philosophy, history, theology, and sociology. The participants came together for two days of lively discussion and sometimes heated exchange. Despite the variety of traditions represented, the papers related to one another in often unexpected ways. Surprisingly, the debate exposed deep commonalities of approach among those who work in the field of law and legal theory, irrespective of the tradition they represented, with the sharpest divisions emerging between scholars of a single tradition who work from within different disciplines. The published Symposium begins with introductory comments by Professors Adam Seligman and Suzanne Last Stone, the conveners of the conference. Session I follows, consisting of articles exploring various theoretical problems emerging from the way tradition represents