Christian Legal Studies (Dr. utr. iur.)

Program Overview

The Doctor Utriusque Iuris (Dr. utr. iur.) in Christian Legal Studies is a research doctorate in Christian jurisprudence, studied through the two legal traditions that Christians built. Medieval Christian jurists created the canon law of the church and revived the Roman civil law, and between them they produced the ideas of legal system, equity, natural rights, due process, and representation that still structure Western law. This doctorate studies that achievement and its continuing claim on legal thought. Doctoral students study Roman law and its revival at Bologna; the sources and method of canon law; the canonists' contribution to natural rights, corporate personality, and procedure; natural law from Aquinas through the second scholastics, Grotius, and the Protestant natural lawyers; the Reformation's transformation of law; and the Christian sources of modern human rights and constitutionalism. Seminars test large historical claims — such as Harold Berman's thesis that the Western legal tradition began with the Papal Revolution — against the primary sources. Graduates teach and research in law, theology, and history, lead institutes of Christian legal thought, and contribute to legal scholarship and public debate. The dissertation makes an original contribution to Christian legal studies across the canonical and civil traditions. The Dr. utr. iur. is a research doctorate.

Core Courses

• IUR 801 — Roman Law and the Civil-Law Tradition (6 credits)
• IUR 812 — Canon Law: Sources, Codes, and Method (6 credits)
• IUR 828 — The Canonists and the Western Legal Tradition (6 credits)
• IUR 840 — Natural Law from Aquinas to Grotius (6 credits)
• IUR 852 — Seminar in Christian Jurisprudence (5 credits)
• IUR 860 — Doctoral Research Design in Both Laws (4 credits)
• IUR 899 — Doctoral Dissertation in Christian Legal Studies (24 credits)
• IUR 870 — Christian Juridical Traditions and Source Criticism (3 credits)

Credit requirements

• Core courses: 60 credits
• Required elective credits: 9 credits

Total required: 69 credits

Elective Courses

Complete 9 credits from the options below (18 credits offered).

• IUR 914 — Reformation, Law, and Society (3 credits)
• IUR 924 — Christianity and Human Rights (3 credits)
• IUR 934 — Equity in Canon Law and Common Law (3 credits)
• IUR 944 — Corporate Personality in Law (3 credits)
• IUR 950 — Christian Concepts of Office and Public Trust (3 credits)
• IUR 951 — Mercy, Judgment, and Legal Institutions (3 credits)

Admission Requirements

• Master's degree, licentiate, or professional degree in law, canon law, theology, or a related field
• Reading knowledge of Latin, or willingness to develop it during the first year of study
• Research proposal identifying a question in civil law, canon law, or both
• Scholarly writing sample
• Current curriculum vitae
• Official transcripts from prior institutions when available