John Witte Jr.

John Witte Jr. is Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law, Alonzo L. McDonald Distinguished Professor and Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion Center at Emory University. A specialist in legal history, marriage law and religious liberty, he has published 180 articles, 13 journal symposia and 24 books.

Recent book titles include: Sex, Marriage and Family Life in John Calvin’s Geneva (2005); Modern Christian Teachings on Law, Politics, and Human Nature, 3 vols. (2006); God’s Joust, God’s Justice: Law and Religion in the Western Tradition (2006); The Reformation of Rights: Law, Religion, and Human Rights in Early Modern Calvinism (2007); Christianity and Law: An Introduction (2008); Sins of the Fathers: The Law and Theology of Illegitimacy Reconsidered (2009); Christianity and Human Rights: An Introduction (2010); and Religion and the American Constitutional Experiment (3d ed. 2011).

Witte’s writings have appeared in 10 languages, and he has lectured and convened conferences through North America, Western and Eastern Europe, Japan, Israel and South Africa. With major funding from the Pew, Ford, Lilly, Luce and McDonald foundations, he has directed 12 major international projects on democracy, human rights and religious liberty, and on marriage, family and children. These projects have collectively yielded more than 160 new volumes and 250 public forums around the world. He edits two major book series, “Studies in Law and Religion” and “Religion, Marriage and Family.” He has been selected 10 times by the Emory law students as the Most Outstanding Professor and has won dozens of other awards and prizes for his teaching and research.