Disability and the Law in Uganda: Challenges, Hopes and Visions

Uganda Christian University, 22 July, 2011

Law, Love and the Image of God

Dr. Rick Langer Biola University rick.langer@biola.edu

A problem for the law

Equality before the law is a universal value Equality before the law is a unexplained value Attempts to explain and ground equality before the law always run afoul of exceptions
Exceptions are prevalent Exceptions are important Exceptions are central to law and justice

Equality grounded in the image of God

What is the image?
The image is our species marker The image makes us like one another The image makes us like God The image makes us unlike animals The image survives the fall

Entailments of the image

Entailments for love Entailments for the law
The image is gift, not an acheivement The image is tarnished in all The image is social and corporately held, not merely an individual possession.

Concluding comments on Law, Institutions and Church

Two general principles concerning law and love:
Don t make the law do the job of the prophets Don t make the prophets do the job of the law