Secularisation and Theologisation

مرکز و کتابخانه مطالعات اسلامی به زبان های اروپایی

منو

" Secularisation and Theologisation "
Geetanjali Srikantan

Document Type	:	AL
Record Number	:	1072473
Doc. No	:	LA116102
Call No	:	‭10.1163/22124810-00401002‬
Language of Document	:	English
Main Entry	:	Geetanjali Srikantan
Title & Author	:	Secularisation and Theologisation [Article]\ Geetanjali Srikantan
Publication Statement	:	Leiden: Brill \| Nijhoff
Title of Periodical	:	Journal of Law, Religion and State
Date	:	2015
Volume/ Issue Number	:	4/1
Page No	:	49–95
Abstract	:	The formation of Hindu law has been chronicled by historians and others as a complex process involving the negation of customary law and the upholding of sacred texts, upon which codes of law were formulated. This paper seeks to interrogate the truth behind this narrative by examining the category of Hindu law and the processes that allowed it to emerge within the British colonial legal imagination. It argues that the making of Hindu law was a process of theologisation within an outer framework of secularisation i.e. the Christian theological framework embedded in the secular framework of Western legal epistemology was the background by which “Hindu law” emerged in the eyes of the colonisers. It examines Western legal notions of divine law, natural law, and human law and the role of historical jurisprudence in this process. It finally concludes by examining the implications of the argument for the formation of secular legal systems. The formation of Hindu law has been chronicled by historians and others as a complex process involving the negation of customary law and the upholding of sacred texts, upon which codes of law were formulated. This paper seeks to interrogate the truth behind this narrative by examining the category of Hindu law and the processes that allowed it to emerge within the British colonial legal imagination. It argues that the making of Hindu law was a process of theologisation within an outer framework of secularisation i.e. the Christian theological framework embedded in the secular framework of Western legal epistemology was the background by which “Hindu law” emerged in the eyes of the colonisers. It examines Western legal notions of divine law, natural law, and human law and the role of historical jurisprudence in this process. It finally concludes by examining the implications of the argument for the formation of secular legal systems.
Descriptor	:	colonialism
Descriptor	:	Henry Maine
Descriptor	:	Hindu law
Descriptor	:	secularisation
Location & Call number	:	‭10.1163/22124810-00401002‬