Cross & Gavel Podcast

It is no secret that law students and attorneys exist in a stressful environment. As Amy Levin recently wrote, "[l]aw student mental health is at an all-time low." The American Bar Association (ABA) has conducted a study that shows how this environment tends to contribute to high rates of mental health disorders and substance abuse. In an effort to face this challenge, LSM has launched the Wellness Program—focused on providing students resources and discussions to face this issue, together. Our first episode was with Ruth Haley Barton on Establishing Rhythms & Abiding in God (here). This week, we are joined by Dr. Barbara L. Peacock to talk about spiritual disciplines as soul care. Dr. Peacock is the author of the award-winning book Soul Care in African American Practice (book + workbook). Her newest book is Spiritual Practices for Soul Care 40 Ways to Deepen your Faith (buy). She is passionate about the disciplines of prayer, spiritual direction (soul care), lectio, and visio divina. In 2013 she founded Barbara L. Peacock Ministries. This ministry is committed to providing safe spaces for encounters with God. She founded Peacock Soul Care, whose mission is focused on nurturing souls, educating minds, and cultivating spirituality through soul care and spiritual experiences. Her personal website is here. Her ministry website is here. Music Credit(s): Tokyo Music Walker & Rexlambo.

This week, I talk to Lael Weinberger about the doctrine of church autonomy—what it is and, more importantly, where it came from. Lael has written an excellent paper on the origins of church autonomy (here), as well as put to practice his musings in a recent amicus brief he filed in the D.C. Circuit in the case of O’Connell v. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (here). After we spent some time digging into Lael’s past, we got to business discussing his paper and brief. Some of the topics we discussed included the definition and scope of church autonomy, the jurisdictional nature of this topic as it relates to the state and the church, the history of its development in the 19th century, and much more. Lael Weinberger is an attorney and legal scholar. He currently works of Gibson Dunn in Washington, D.C. (bio), and serves as a nonresident fellow at Stanford Law (bio). In the past, he clerked for Justice Neil Gorsuch on the United States Supreme Court, Judge Frank Easterbrook on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and Chief Justice Daniel Eismann on the Idaho Supreme Court. He earned a law degree with high honors from the University of Chicago Law School. He also holds a PhD in history from the University of Chicago, with a focus on American legal history. Cross & Gavel is a production of CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOCIETY. The episode was produced by Josh Deng, with music from Vexento.

This week, we are joined once more by our friend and comparative constitutional law expert from the mean streets of Padua—Andrea Pin. We discuss his brand new book from Brill entitled, Religious Freedom without the Rule of Law: The Constitutional Odysseys of Afghanistan, Egypt, and Iraq and the Fate of the Middle East (here). Whereby last time we spoke about the development of religious freedom jurisprudence in Europe (listen here), this time we venture into the Islamic world by considering the rule of law and its implications in Afghanistan, Egypt, and Iraq. I ask him about the meaning of “rule of law” and whether it remains a purely Western convention. I ask about the role of community life in his focused regions as it relates to the ways they negotiate legal disputes and tribal tensions. I ask about the role of religious conversion and what happens after. And much more. Andrea Pin is the Associate Professor of Comparative Public Law at the University of Padova Law School and a senior fellow in the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. Full bio. Cross & Gavel is a production of CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOCIETY. The episode was produced by Josh Deng, with music from Vexento.

This week, we have a special guest from the University of Florida Levin College of Law—Christopher D. Hampson. Our topic is a good one: the cancellation of debt. To that end, Chris and I discussed his forthcoming article tentatively entitled Law and the Jubilee Tradition. Some of the things we spoke about was the jubilee tradition in the Old Testament text, the many ways that tradition connects with the history of American society, his approach based on a Rawlsian ideal of practical reason, principle of equality undergirding his project, and more. Chris is a scholar of bankruptcy, insolvency, and the ethics of debt. His research focuses on how legal institutions can best serve our shared values during times of financial distress. Chris served as a law clerk for Judge Richard A. Posner on the Seventh Circuit in Chicago and practiced law at a number of promient law firms in Miami and Boston. Full bio and CV here. Cross & Gavel is a production of CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOCIETY. The episode was produced by Josh Deng, with music from Vexento.

This week, we have a special episode with a return guest of mine—Nicholas Aroney, who recently delivered the Sir John Graham Lecture in New Zealand. You can listen to that here or read it here. Nick and I talk about this lecture, entitled The Compass of Character, delving into questions relating to the definition of good character, the role that catastrophes play in bringing out an individual's true self, the limits of law and education for the inculcation of good character, and the role of religion in helping bridge the gap. Nicholas Aroney is Professor of Constitutional Law at The University of Queensland, Director (Public Law) of the Centre for Public, International and Comparative Law and a Senior Fellow of the Centre for Law and Religion at Emory University. As mentioned in our conversation, he has also edited an impressive volume entitled, Christianity and Constitutionalism—this is well worth the money! Faculty bio. Cross & Gavel is a production of CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOCIETY. The episode was produced by Josh Deng, with music from Vexento.

In this episode, I talk about a new book that models the ten habits that any peacemaker should adopt. The author is Steven T. Collis and the book is Ten Habits of a Peacemaker. For those wondering how this book compares to the work of Ken Sande’s The Peacemaker, the two are excellent companions. While Ken’s is more theological (LISTEN), Steven’s project looks at the process and psychological challenges of creating a space for constructive dialogue and common life. To that end, him and I spoke about the importance of habit formation, the challenges of navigating perception, the psychology underlying group-think, the various steps that an individual can take to develop the heart of a peacemaker, and much more. Steven researches and teaches on religion law, productive discourse, and other First Amendment topics at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law. He is the founding faculty director of the Bech-Loughlin First Amendment Center and its Law & Religion Clinic. Before joining Texas Law, he was a Research Fellow in the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School. Faculty bio. My first conversation with Steven can be found here. Cross & Gavel is a production of CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOCIETY. The episode was produced by Josh Deng, with music from Vexento.

This week, I discuss a recent piece (here) in Touchstone Magazine with Adam J. MacLeod entitled “How Law Lost Its Way: An Abandoned Ruling Principle & How to Get It Back.” In it, Adam discusses the role of practical reason in the development of law and the change that took place after the Enlightenment toward a positivistic conception of law rooted in power and force. We discuss his move to Texas, the meaning of the rule of law and how it was developed throughout history, the role of deliberation in the legal process, how the law was lost through power jurisprudence, and much more. Adam is Professor of Law at St. Mary’s University (profile) and a Senior Research Fellow of the Center for Religion, Culture and Democracy (for more). Cross & Gavel is a production of CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOCIETY. The episode was produced by Josh Deng, with music from Vexento.    

This week, we enter the world of labor law theory — more specifically, the question of faith as it relates to the rights of workers. In this episode, I am joined by law professor Alvin Velazquez to talk about a paper (here) he presented at the St. Louis University School of Law Symposium focused on the question of workplace justice. We talk about his transition from serving with a major American trade union to becoming a law professor at IU-Maurer, the role of faith in advancing workplace justice, the restoration of dignity in the labor market, the application of “prophetic pragmatism” in his developing theory, and much more. Cross & Gavel is a production of CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOCIETY. The episode was produced by Josh Deng, with music from Vexento.

This week, we talk about an all too familiar topic for law students: contracts. In this episode, I am joined by law professor C. Scott Pryor to talk about his soon to be published paper in the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics, and Public Policy: Person-Centered Pluralism About Contract Law (download here). Scott and I talk about the fundamentals of contract law, the moral obligation of promise, the significance of binding obligations, and much more. Scott holds a B.A. from Dordt College and an M.A. from Reformed Theological Seminary. He earned his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin College of Law. You can find many of his other thoughts in his blog here. Cross & Gavel is a production of CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOCIETY. The episode was produced by Josh Deng, with music from Vexento.

This week, we begin a new chapter in the life of the Cross & Gavel podcast, with a renewed effort to explore the interaction of Christianity and law. This new focus will be exclusive to the work being done by practitioners and academics in their field of knowledge, offering their small contributions to the great intellectual tradition that has made the “cathedral of the law” such a formative discipline to shape society and culture. We begin our journey thinking about what happens when a Christian attorney walks into a Bar. No, not that kind of bar . . . THE BAR. Yes, the dreaded exam, but also the very life of legal practice it entails. Our Virgil on this voyage is Dr. Jeff J. Ventrella. An adjunct at Trinity Law School and the Director and Chair of the truthXchange Fellowship. We welcome you on this journey with us and hope it proves fruitful in your own study and practice of law. Cross & Gavel is a production of CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOCIETY. The episode was produced by Josh Deng, with music from Vexento.