Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg

Dr. Anna-Lena Wolf

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Reconsidering the canon of law: Legal change and divine agency in Catholic canon law

Dr. Anna-Lena Wolf

The research project examines legal transformations in Catholic canon law from an anthropological perspective. The focus is on the question of how historical or current transformations of canon law are conceptualized from a canonical perspective and what role is attributed to God as an actor in the transformation or maintenance of canon law norms.

Catholic canon law encompasses all legal norms of the Catholic Church and contains both human law (ius mere ecclesiasticum) and divine law (ius divinum). The analysis of legal transformations in Catholic canon law is particularly interesting since one of the essential features of divine law in Catholic canon law is its postulated immutability. The research project is based at the intersection of anthropological studies on legal change and debates on multiple ontologies and non-human or divine agency in an innovative way.

Four overarching questions are at the center of this research project:

1. Which parts of Catholic canon law are perceived by Catholic canon lawyers as (un)changeable?

2. How are historical or contemporary transformations of canon law conceptualized?

3. Which role is assigned to God as an actor in the transformation or maintenance of canon law norms?

4. How can the nexus between legal change and religion be reconceptualized and newly theorized in anthropology?

To investigate the questions, participant observation and expert interviews will be conducted in the training of Catholic canonists and in the legislation and jurisprudence of the Catholic Church in central institutions of the Roman Curia in Rome, Italy. The empirical research approach is triangulated with an analysis of relevant canonical publications and documents.

Laufzeit

2022 - 2025

Finanzierung

Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany

Istituto Svizzero, Rome, Italy

Betreuung

Prof. Dr. Olaf Zenker

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