RLT: A Preliminary Examination of Religious Legal Theory as a Movement

Abstract

This article examines Religious Legal Theory (RLT) as a “legal movement”, and compares and contrasts RLT with other intellectual movements in American Law. This article looks briefly at certain aspects of Critical Legal Studies, Law and Economics, and Empirical Legal Studies. For purposes of this preliminary analysis of RLT, this article will adopt somewhat simplified models of these movements, focusing on some of their central features, including critiques that have been leveled against them. In turn, this article will explore similar elements of RLT in an effort to evaluate the potential status and standing of RLT as a legal movement.

Keywords: Religious Legal Theory, RLT, legal movement, Critical Legal Studies, CLS, Law and Economics, law, economics, Empirical Legal Studies, Mark Tushnet, Tushnet, Bernstein, Anita Bernstein, Whatever happened to Law and Economics, Sam Levine, Samuel J. Levine, Levine

JEL Classification: K00, K19, K39, K40, K49