Description
"A Brooding Omnipresence" considers the role of religious faith in American legal thought. Formalism, the idea that the rules of law were clear and fixed, was challenged as transcendental nonsense by legal realists. Religious beliefs were central to the legal thought of American jurists and legal scholars well into the twentieth century. This work focuses on the writings of formalist Justice David J. Brewer, best know by religious scholars for declaring from the bench that America was a Christian Nation. The work as a whole addresses the importance of faith to 19th century formalism, changes in the conceptualiation of international law, the anti-religious roots of attacks on formalism, the defense of natural law by Catholic scholars, and the curricular accomplishments of the legal realists.
