Redeeming law: books to integrate Christian calling and the legal profession

If you have seen our recent facebook updates or twitter posts you may know that we had a friend drive a large rented van to New Orleans (we flew down and back) in order to set up a large book display for our friends at the Christian Legal Society national conference. This diverse gathering serves ordinary lawyers, judges, law professors and law students helping them think faithfully about their callings in the field of law. 

A big seller there is Michael Schutt’s excellent, thoughtful Redeeming Law: Christian Calling and the Legal Profession (IVP; $25.00.) Mike helps emcee the event each year, and he is a dear friend.  It’s a must-have book for anyone interested in this field written by a fine and energetic leader who has really thought deeply about his own vocational stewardship. I once joked that it was malpractice for a Christian who is in law-related fields not to own this book, but, you know, I really wasn’t joking. 

Others in the core library for lawyers who follow Christ that are maybe a bit more basic, but still  excellent include The Lawyer’s Calling: Christian Faith and Legal Practice by Joseph G. Alligretti (Paulist Press; $12.95) and Can a Good Lawyer Be a Good Christian: Homilies, Witnesses & Reflections edited by Thomas Baker & Timothy Floyd (University of Notre Dame Press; $25.00.)  I wish other fields — public school teachers, engineers, doctors, for instance — had such thoughtful Christian resources that are interesting, helpful and faithful.

We sell all sorts of books on legal theory — we had almost a hundred, I’d bet, but should at least note these significant ones:

God’s Joust, God’s Justice: Law and Religion in the Western Tradition by John Witte, Jr. (Eerdmans) $36.00

Law and the Bible: Justice, Mercy and Legal Institutions edited by Robert Cochran & David VanDrunen (IVP Academic) $24.00

Christian Perspectives on Legal Thought by Michael McConnell, Robert Cochran and Angela Carmella (Yale University Press) $50.00. 

Justice: Rights and Wrongs Nicholas Wolterstorff (Princeton University Press) $32.95

Christianity and Human Rights edited by John Witte & Frank Alexander (Cambridge University Press)  $34.99

Most CLS participants aren’t law school profs or academics, though, and most are just doing ordinary work, day by day, being salt and light in their field. A number of the attorneys that show up are actually involved in encouraging litigants to settle out of court, and be at least somewhat reconciled. We featured the remarkably practical and very useful book The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict by Ken Sande (Baker; $16.99) which we highly recommend.  CLS even had a special training on this model of conflict resolution, although the book itself is good for anyone, anywhere. I hope somebody in your church has a copy around!

Others do work with immigration law, for instance, and some are fighting sexual trafficking.  A few prosecute bad guys stateside and there are usually a few international folks around, too, some who may work for groups like IJM or Not for Sale.  Of course we had a good handful of these sorts of books, and are happy that we sold a few of the must-read Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence  by Gary Haugen and Victor Boutros (Oxford University Press; $18.95.)

Still other CLS members work, often in a pro bono capacity, doing legal aid for the underserved and poor.  The stories of how Christian Legal Aid clinics are popping up around the country is very, very inspiring. 

For anyone who has read important books like Robert Lupton’s Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help, and How to Reverse It or his brand new Charity Detox: What Charity Would Look Like If We Cared About Results or the popular Helping Without Hurting series by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert (or heck, Ronald Sider’s still relevant and nearly unrivaled  Just Generosity: A New Vision for Overcoming Poverty in America) you know that addressing root causes and reforming structural matters are often more effective and just then mere hand-outs and soup kitchens. Hearing about lawyers serving the legal needs of the poor is a great example of the kinds of social support and development that can truly make a lasting difference.  Three big cheers for CLS for this being a part of their Godly agenda of setting up free or reduced cost legal aid clinics in places of need. Here is a brief video of a rather ordinary lawyer talking how she gives a few hours a month to a local Christian Legal Aid Clinic.

And while most ordinary lawyers don’t do this kind of work up close, there was a keen interested in Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy: A Story of Justice & Redemption (Spiegel & Grau; $16.00.) Of course.  (I hope you know we’ve promoted this from it’s first day, and have been glad to see it becoming well known. Truly one of the best books of the year!)

Books more generally about public theology and civic life are important to this crowd. I pushed the great little book by Vince Bacote, The Political Disciple: A Theology of Public Life (Zondervan; $11.99), Miroslav Volf’s passionate A Public Faith: How Followers of Christ Should Serve the Common Good (Brazos Press; $18.99) and made a plea from up front for folks to work through James Skillen’s major work, The Good of Politics: A Biblical, Historical, and Contemporary Introduction (Baker; $24.00.) We sold books on worldview and work, leadership and leisure, culture and the renewal of society, the Christian mind and a bit of philosophy. (Okay, not much philosophy.) Two of last year’s CLS keynote speakers have new books out, so we plugged those and they were a natural fit for this gathering: Russell Moore’s Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel (BH; $24.99) and John Stonestreet’s Restoring All Things: God’s Audacious Plan to Change the World Through Everyday People (Baker; $16.99.) They were perfect sorts of books for many in this crowd.

Renaissance: The Power of the Gospel However Dark the Times by Os Guinness (IVP; $16.00) was also one we prominently display; we continue to think this is a helpful antidote to culture wars and social division and religious frustration, and a reminder to trust God and put first things first. I do hope you’d consider reading it and sharing it. It’s a book that should be well known among us.

Many lawyers are drawn to apologetics. Last year one of our biggest sellers at their conference in Boston, in fact, was by a prominent lawyer and highly regarded U of Penn Law School professor, John Skeel, whose True Paradox: How Christianity Makes Sense of Our Complex World (IVP; $16.00.) had just come out.

This year in NOLA we sold a bunch of Os Guinness’s very thoughtful, recently released book on Christian persuasion Fools Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion (IVP; $22.00.) I trust you saw our BookNotes review describing it and it’s value when it came out.

I promoted it passionately during a book announcement, and invited these thoughtful leaders to purchase it and read it carefully — in many ways, it is the life work of Guinness, offering insights he learned from his own main intellectual influences (C.S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer and Peter Berger.)

Of course, many of the CLS tribe know Guinness and his books good on civil society such as A Free People’s Suicide: Sustainable Freedom and the American Future and The Global Public Square: Religious Freedom and the Making of a World Safe for Diversity (both IVP; $16.00 each.)

I hope you know them.

And, naturally, we always tell thoughtful readers about Steve Garber’s Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good (IVP; $16.00) which I continue to say is one of my all time favorite books.  How to keep on loving God’s world even while we know “how the sausage is made” is an important matter for all of us, and certainly for those working in law, since I suppose they quite often have to deal with set-backs, compromises, and great, great human brokenness. If you haven’t picked this up yet, don’t hesitate.  It is beautifully done, exceptionally thoughtful, and very, very wise.  It is not a simple or quick read, but one to savor and ponder.

Despite the emphasis on social renewal and religious liberties and the like, we also featured rows and rows of books on faith formation, spiritual disciplines, missional discipleship, and practical stuff such as resources on work/life balance and family life (not to mention a few great kids books!)

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