The Sins of the Fathers: The Law and Theology of Illegitimacy Reconsidered [Paperback]

John Witte Jr (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521548241 | ISBN-13: 978-0521548243 | Publication Date: April 27, 2009 | Edition: 1

For nearly two millennia, Western law visited the sins of fathers and mothers upon their illegitimate children, subjecting them to systematic discrimination and deprivation. The graver the sins of their parents, the further these children fell in social standing and legal protection. While some reformers have sought to better the plight of illegitimate children, only in recent decades has illegitimacy lost its full legal sting. Yet the social, economic, and psychological costs of illegitimacy still remain high even in the liberal, affluent West. John Witte analyzes and critiques the shifting historical law and theology of illegitimacy. This doctrine, he argues, misinterprets basic biblical teachings on individual accountability and Christian community. It also betrays basic democratic principles of equality, dignity, and natural rights of all. There are no illegitimate children, only illegitimate parents, Witte concludes, and he presses for the protection and rights of all children, regardless of their birth status.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Witte's towering reputation as a historian, and as a legal and theological scholar, is further enhanced by this slim, but accessible and meticulously researched volume."
--Adrian Thatcher, Professor, University of Exeter, Journal of Contemporary Religion, May 2010.

"The Sins of the Fathers has an important message about illegitimacy.  It is also a fascinating and well-written case study in the emerging yet neglected conversation between religion and the law."
--Don Browning†, Professor Emeritus, Univ. of Chicago, Christian Century, February 2010.

"John Witte has done it again! Sins of the Fathers demonstrates what his readers always expect from him: painstaking historical research, lucid presentation, plus jurisprudential and theological gravitas. But here we see even more: the profound humanity of this man, born of his familial experience, and revealed in the book's moving dedication, which gives us the leitmotif of this exceptional work." --David Novak, J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Professor of Jewish Studies, University of Toronto

"Witte, one of the world's foremost thinkers on law and religion, has now produced this authoritative investigation of the often deeply disturbing history of illegitimacy in the Western world. It is not only grounded in rigorous scholarship and perceptive theology but also offers wise reflections on how civil responsibility, adoption and the institution of marriage might contribute more to the welfare of children today." --David F. Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity, University of Cambridge

"This little book is a large achievement. It exemplifies the modern ideal of scholarship - complexly interdisciplinary, masterfully cross-cultural, lavishly learned, startlingly insightful, movingly personal, lucidly argued, and luminously written." --Carl E. Schneider, Chauncey Stillman Professor of Law and Professor of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan.

Book Description

Witte analyzes the shifting laws and logics of illegitimacy in the Western tradition offering an incisive critique of this historical doctrine and its renewed expression among neo-conservatives in church and state. Illegitimacy doctrine, he argues, misinterprets several biblical texts and disregards cardinal Christian teachings of individual accountability and Christian community.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 226 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (April 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521548241
• ISBN-13: 978-0521548243
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,111,442 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Witte, Jr. is Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law, Alonzo L. McDonald
Distinguished Professor, and Director of the Center for the Study of Law and
Religion Center at Emory University. A specialist in legal history, marriage law, and religious liberty, he has published 180 articles, 13 journal symposia, and 24 books.

Professor Witte's writings have appeared in ten languages, and he has lectured
and convened conferences through North America, Western and Eastern
Europe, Japan, Israel, and South Africa. With major funding from the Pew, Ford,Lilly, Luce, and McDonald foundations, he has directed 12 major international projects on democracy, human rights, and religious liberty, and on marriage, family, and children. These projects have collectively yielded more than 160 new volumes and 250 public forums around the world. He edits two major book series, "Studies in Law and Religion," and "Religion, Marriage and Family." He has been selected ten times by the Emory law students as the Most Outstanding Professor and has won dozens of other awards and prizes for his teaching and research.

Professor Witte is married to Eliza Ellison. They have two daughters and two grandchildren.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read, January 10, 2011

By 

Amanda (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Sins of the Fathers: The Law and Theology of Illegitimacy Reconsidered (Paperback)

I purchased this book because I am an Adoptee Rights Advocate. As the laws Adoptee Rights Advocates are concerned about were *originally* shaped by an effort to cover up illegitimacy, it behooves me to read anything that might educate me on the history and laws of illegitimacy, especially those that shaped law in the U.S.

This is an excellent and well researched book. It was information-packed and I found myself having to stop and re-read certain portions several times to absorb it all.

As educational as it was, I found myself disagreeing with the final chapter. I do not think that adoption, abortion, and illegitimacy are as directly related as people generally tend to think. I do not think that adoption is a solution to issues that cause women to choose or consider abortion. I do not think that illegitimacy and out of wedlock birth are issues in themselves. I think how society and policy treat women, that leads to chronic poverty of single mothers, are the problems. There is nothing inherently wrong with a woman bearing a child without being married and choosing to raise that child, except, she's violated that archaic gender "norm" of motherhood without legal subordination to a man (marriage). Public and agency policy has done everything it can throughout U.S. history to push hardship upon single, pregnant women. Yet, women bearing children without being married is what is still seen as the problem, rather than the way women in this situation have been treated. We need equality for women, not to continue to suggest that women who are not married should be encouraged to choose adoption. Adoption does not, can not, and will not solve all of our problems.

I would like to see continued study of illegitimacy and illegitimacy laws throughout the 50's to today (see Solinger and Fessler), as I disagree that the laws and stigmas of illegitimacy have lost their potency. Original Birth Certificate closure laws, based on illegitimacy, (see Wegar, Carpe, and Samuels) very much impact Adult Adoptees to this day and age. Policies and sentiment bent on shaming and punishing women who bore children outside of marriage have shaped current policies in adoption and views of women.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Sins of the Fathers, October 8, 2009

By 

Center for the Study of Law and Religion at E... (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sins of the Fathers: The Law and Theology of Illegitimacy Reconsidered (Hardcover)

For nearly two millennia, Western law visited the sins of fathers and mothers upon their illegitimate children, subjecting them to systematic discrimination and deprivation. The graver the sins of their parents, the further these children fell in social standing and legal protection. While some reformers have sought to better the plight of illegitimate children, only in recent decades has illegitimacy lost its full legal sting. Yet the social, economic, and psychological costs of illegitimacy still remain high even in the liberal, affluent West. John Witte, director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion (CSLR) at Emory University, analyzes and critiques the shifting historical law and theology of illegitimacy. This doctrine, he argues, misinterprets basic biblical teachings on individual accountability and Christian community. It also betrays basic democratic principles of equality, dignity, and natural rights of all. There are no illegitimate children, only illegitimate parents, Witte concludes, and he presses for the protection and rights of all children, regardless of their birth status.

The book comes from the CSLR's ongoing project on "Christian Legal Studies" with support from the Lilly Endowment, Inc. and the Alonzo L. McDonald Family Foundation.

***

The Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University is home to world-class scholars and forums on the religious foundations of law, politics, and society. It offers first-rank expertise on how the teachings and practices of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have shaped and can continue to transform the fundamental ideas and institutions of our public and private lives. The scholarship of CSLR faculty provides the latest perspectives, while its conferences and public forums foster reasoned and robust public debate.