'Foreword,' to Paul Valliere and Randall Poole, eds., Law and the Christian Tradition in Modern Russia

Abstract

This brief text introduces a novel study of twenty leading Christian legal thinkers in late czarist Russia and the broader Soviet Union. Included for analysis are law professors, judges, diplomats, civil servants, church bureaucrats, legislative draftsmen, practicing lawyers, and canonists who worked for, with, and sometimes against the laws of the Russian czars, the Communist Party, and the Russian Orthodox Church.

Keywords: Law, Religion, Law and Religion, Law and Christianity, Russia, Soviet Union, Russian Orthodox Church, civil law, canon law, legal theory