Introduction

The conventional approach to evaluating the relationship between law and religion operates on the assumption that these are discrete domains that often compete, and at times even clash, with one another. This orientation animates scholarship and public discourse on such salient topics as mediating between church and state; balancing freedom of religion and freedom from religion; weighing the alternate commitments of religion and human rights; and delimiting the respective jurisdictions of civil and religious courts.A dichotomous paradigm, however, is not the only way to conceptualize the intersection between law and religion. The “Law As Religion, Religion As Law” volume explores a different perspective that has emerged in recent scholarship which regards law and religion as overlapping frameworks that structure the lives of individuals as well as the social order. From this vantage point, law and religion arguably share similar properties, and may even have a symbiotic relationship.