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This chapter discusses how Christian Reconstructionism had grown out of Rushdoony’s hostile relationship with the editors of Christianity Today, most notably Carl F. H. Henry, as he tried to challenge other conservative Christians to see Mosaic law as the antidote to the perceived lawlessness of the 1960s. After failing to create an expedient alliance with businessman and philanthropist J. Howard Pew in an attempt to influence Christianity Today and the neoevangelical coalition it represented, Rushdoony turned his attention to fully articulating his vision of Biblical law as an alternative to the “law and order” discourse emerging among his fellow conservatives. He argued that Biblical law could provide the necessary mechanism to reconstruct America into a neofeudal Protestant state that would eventually usher in Christ’s second coming.

This chapter considers the Hebrew Bible's seemingly nonchalant attitude toward the food of foreigners. The Hebrew Bible emphasizes the distinction between “us” and “them”, and the superiority of Israelite religion over all others. Biblical texts that address dietary laws, moreover, consistently associate these regulations with Israel's distinctive identity. Because Israelites are holy, these texts declare, they must adhere to various norms regarding the consumption of flesh from formerly living creatures. Why, then, do these texts fail to prohibit the consumption of meat prepared by non-Israelites or, for that matter, the practice of eating with non-Israelites? The silence of Biblical law in this respect becomes even more perplexing when narrative references to instances in which Israelites consume food associated with foreigners are examined. The chapter surveys such references before turning its attention to the central question. It concludes with a brief discussion of impurity, a concept whose significance to the present study will become apparent in subsequent chapters.

This chapter explores how public theology challenges criminal justice orthodoxies by asking, provocatively, whether Christianity has been hijacked by imprisonment. The question is systematically explored with reference to three, interrelated, strands: (1) the moral question of ‘seriousness of offence’ which undergirds the sanction of imprisonment; (2) the development of ‘Relational Justice’ as a reform dynamic for criminal justice and prison reform; and (3) the role of faith-based units in prisons. These three strands show the different ways in which juxtaposing prisons and public theology challenges criminal justice orthodoxies; critiques retributive punishment and provides the hope of restoration. They also provide worked examples of the methodologies that are required to successfully link up law with applied social sciences and theology.

This chapter explores the Vikuaḥ of Rabbi Yeḥiel of Paris, wherein he argued for the importance and authority of the Talmud. Rabbi Yeḥiel said he believes in all the laws contained in it, which were deduced by the rabbis from Scripture. It is called Talmud (teaching), because of the text ‘you shall teach them to your sons’. However, the Talmud also contains Aggadah, that is, figurative, poetic passages to appeal to men’s hearts. If these passages seem extraordinary, there are many similar passages in Scripture itself. Moreover, Rabbi Yeḥiel argues that without the Talmud, one would not be able to understand passages in the Bible which appear to contradict each other. Where the Biblical law is brief and scattered as in the laws of the Sabbath, the Talmud gives full explanations, gathered into one tractate; otherwise, it would be impossible to understand the law.