Drawing on the Christian Tradition as a Source for the Renewal of Labor Law Theory

Does the Christian tradition have anything to offer to legal theorists exploring the renewal of labor law from its ossified framework? This Essay argues that the Christian tradition has much to offer. There are streams within the Christian intellectual tradition that offer a third way between a “naked public square” of legal thought that refuses to look at religion as a source of ideas for constructing law and Christian nationalism. Schools of theological inquiry within the Christian tradition such as the Theology of the Social Gospel, Catholic Social Teaching, and Liberation Theology draw on the “Sermon on the Mount” for lessons about how to treat the poor, including low-wage workers. These well-developed theological traditions have much to scholars in the nascent Law and Political Economy (“LPE”) movement as well as labor law scholars. Scholars of labor law and those within the LPE movement draw on moral concepts that sound similar to some of the language that the Christian tradition uses. This Essay urges scholars in the LPE movement to mine the theological schools of thought described above because they provide rich intellectual and moral grist to draw on in constructing an alternate theory of labor law that privileges the needs of workers while drawing on language familiar to millions of Americans who profess the Christian faith.