Teaching Theology and Law in the Australian Secular Law School: Lessons From the Adelaide Law School

ABSTRACT The Adelaide Law School introduced Law and Religion into its suite of elective courses in 2012, the culmination of a long process of encouraging both the institution and individual faculty members to accept that this sub‐discipline, at the time already well‐recognized in the United States and Europe, properly belonged as a scholarly pursuit in a secular university. This article, in three parts, recounts the story that led to that acceptance, before turning briefly to the shape the course has taken in its various iterations since it was first taught in 2012. Part II provides the theoretical background to the distinction drawn between law and religion properly so‐called and law and theology. That distinction influenced and influences the way in which the Law and Religion course was adopted and the way in which it continues to be taught at the Adelaide Law School. Part III turns to my recollections and reminiscences of the way in which the course took shape at the Adelaide Law School beginning in 2002 and how it has been taught in each of its iterations, up to the most recent offering in 2023. Part IV concludes with brief reflections on how others may seek to introduce law and religion, both as a research sub‐discipline and as a course in their own secular law schools.