The passing of Bill Stuntz has been noted here, here, here, and here, and I'm certain many more places by now. Bill's intellectual company was impressive. He was on the faculties of law of the University of Virginia and Harvard. His openly evangelical Christian testimony, however, testified to three things, each important.
First, it's no longer the case that someone committed to the traditional Christian faith will be excluded from the academy. The wall of reigning aggressive secularism has been breached, at least in certain fields. Law schools may be more open minded that some of the humanities but evangelicals can no longer blame their lack of opportunities in the academy solely on discrimination against their religious beliefs.
Second, Bill's published work in criminal law and procedure showed the kind of work that someone committed to the Christian faith should be doing. In other words, we should be thankful that Bill did not devote his scholarship to a stereotypical evangelical hot topic like religious liberty. In that he was an encouragement to my work in topics like contracts, bankruptcy, and secured transactions.
Finally, Bill's popular work like this piece published over a decade ago in First Things demonstrated a supple grasp of the big picture. Law and the Christian Story transparently connects the law of bankruptcy to the biblical account of redemption. Discharge of indebtedness demonstrates on the limited, financial plain what God has done for us broad, existential one.
For these reasons and I'm confident many more, we can mourn the loss of Bill Stuntz even as he enters into eternal glory.
First, it's no longer the case that someone committed to the traditional Christian faith will be excluded from the academy. The wall of reigning aggressive secularism has been breached, at least in certain fields. Law schools may be more open minded that some of the humanities but evangelicals can no longer blame their lack of opportunities in the academy solely on discrimination against their religious beliefs.
Second, Bill's published work in criminal law and procedure showed the kind of work that someone committed to the Christian faith should be doing. In other words, we should be thankful that Bill did not devote his scholarship to a stereotypical evangelical hot topic like religious liberty. In that he was an encouragement to my work in topics like contracts, bankruptcy, and secured transactions.
Finally, Bill's popular work like this piece published over a decade ago in First Things demonstrated a supple grasp of the big picture. Law and the Christian Story transparently connects the law of bankruptcy to the biblical account of redemption. Discharge of indebtedness demonstrates on the limited, financial plain what God has done for us broad, existential one.
For these reasons and I'm confident many more, we can mourn the loss of Bill Stuntz even as he enters into eternal glory.
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