The Past, Present, and Future of Christian ADR

Authors

Ronald J. Colombo, Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University

Abstract

Many religious traditions recommend (if not require) that their adherents bring some if not all of their disputes with co-adherents before a religious tribunal for resolution. The Christian religious tradition is no exception. That said, the dramatic history of the Church in the West, from that of a persecuted Jewish sect, to the official state religion of Imperial Rome, to an international authority competing with that of local monarchs, to its modern status of merely tolerated, has yielded a variety of evolving perspectives on the question of intra-faith dispute resolution within Christianity. This article examines that question and the historical answers given thereto by Christian theologians over the past two millennia. In its final sections, this article explores the constitutional parameters circumscribing the modern practice of religious ADR and engages in some prognostication about the future of religious ADR.

Keywords

Democracy, Political Systems and Governments, Politics (General), Privatization, Business Practice and Procedure, Social Welfare, Suicide, Mental Health Issues, Courts, First Amendment, Jurisprudence, Religion and the Law

Disciplines

Courts | Dispute Resolution and Arbitration | First Amendment | Jurisprudence | Law | Law and Politics | Social Welfare Law

Recommended Citation

Ronald J. Colombo, The Past, Present, and Future of Christian ADR, 22 Cardozo J. Conflict Resol. 45 (2020).
Available at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/cjcr/vol22/iss1/5