Overview

How does one navigate living religiously in a secular world? Where life is governed not just by the laws of faith, but by the laws of the state as well, what does ""doing the right thing"" actually mean? When people think about the interplay between religious and secular law, certain meta-issues arise, such as, how does one weigh what is legal (which secular law demands) versus what is right (that is, the moral code which religion expects its followers to adhere to)? Such questions inevitably lead one to ponder the purpose of law as well as its underlying expectations. This book tackles such questions, from the perspective of a Jewish educator who has lived his life according to two distinct (and sometimes conflicting) legal systems: halakha (Jewish law) and the United States Code (U.S. legal code). With this as a starting point, Between the Laws of God and Man explores key core elements of Jewish and secular law to determine commonalities, divergences, and implications for each.

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""We live in a precarious time when Christian nationalists and radical Islamists are hellbent on reviving age-old imperialist aspirations and spreading ""biblical"" and Sharia law to societies far and wide. For all peace-loving participants in our unfinished projects of peoplehood, Travis's exploration of one of the finest rabbinic principles (""the law of the land is law"") is an incredibly rich resource."" -- Jacob L. Wright, author of Why the Bible Began: An Alternative History of Scripture and Its Origins. ""Jewish people have lived for centuries under the dual imperatives of an encompassing religious legal system (known as halacha) as well as the civil laws of the countries in which they reside. In this book, Travis takes on some of the practical and philosophical questions this situation raises for religious Jews who seek to be good citizens of both worlds in the US and beyond. Readers may be intrigued not only by the Jewish example, but by potential analogies and lessons for other groups who strive to reconcile their dual commitments in this way."" --Don Seeman, associate professor, Department of Religion and Tam Institute for Jewish Studies, Emory University

Author Information

Reuven Travis taught a wide range of classes over his twenty-year career as an educator, including Jewish law, Bible, and Jewish history. He holds a master's degree in teaching from Mercer University and a master's in Judaic studies from Spertus College. He has published three scholarly works on the book of Job, the book of Numbers, and the book of Genesis, respectively.

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