HUMANITIES AND RIGHTS GLOBAL NETWORK JOURNAL

IUS AND DERECTUM: THE REVOLUTION BROUGHT BY CHRISTIANITY IN ROMAN LAW AND ITS LEGACY IN THE LAW’S METHOD

Claudio Brandao — 2025-09-09

Roman law was the product of a realistic construction that did not start from generalizations but used an art to build the verdict by induction. It was the authority of the legal expert that was the basis of the legitimacy of his ability to create law, by demarcating the boundary between what was lawful and what was unlawful. This inductive methodology was not consistent with the religious tradition revealed by Judaism and Christianity, since following a path is related to the commandment in their sacred scriptures for the regulation of conducts. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, therefore, the methodology of law is a deduction. From these different methodologies, one can understand the conceptual shift from ius to derectum (directum). This methodological change was followed by a hermeneutical revolution, the spread in the Christianized Roman Empire of the Pauline dichotomy of 'letter and spirit', which produced “fruits” that are still felt today.

ON THE USE OF THE WORD VULNERABILITY

Jose Tolentino de Mendonça — 2025-09-22

This text reflects on the progress and hesitations surrounding the word "vulnerability" in contemporary discourse, particularly in Pope Francis' encyclicals "Laudato Si'" and "Fratelli Tutti."

THE APOSTLE PAUL’S CREATIVE USE OF A COMMON PHILOSOPHICAL TOPOS

Scott Normand Brodeur S.J. — 2025-09-09

This paper will examine the figure of the akrates2 of Rom 7,14-21 in light of brief passages taken from two ancient philosophical texts: Plato’s early dialogue, the Protagoras and Aristotle’s magnum opus, the Nicomachean Ethics. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle all studied the problem of akrasia, namely the divided will in the moral subject. In chapter seven of his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul also addresses this ethical problem and proposes his own creative use of what had become a common philosophical topos in both the classical and Hellenistic world. He summarizes the moral conundrum of the “I” in this way in Rom 7,19: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” How then is such a major split between the cognitive and the ethical possible? How is it possible for good people to recognize the good yet do evil instead? Even in our own day scholars of ancient ethics continue to examine this fascinating and still relevant moral dilemma.

RECOGNITION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Elio Gasda S.J. — 2025-09-09

Human rights belong to humanity. Without them, there is no future. The history of civilisations is intertwined with struggles for the recognition of the dignity of specific individuals. Marked by the aspirations of each era, any right that is won guarantees distinct aspects to the same human being. Struggles arise in contexts of demands relating to the emergence of subjectivities that are not yet properly recognised. The urgency of identity politics is a sign of the times. People are mobilising to confront old injustices based on ethnicity, religion, culture, and sexuality. They demand social justice, recognition, and respect. On the one hand, there has been a decline in rights, as evidenced by the increase in LGBTphobia, sexism, racism, and misogyny. The systematic violation of fundamental rights has become so intense that it justifies the spread of groups defending their identities. On the other hand, in the field of human sciences, political philosophy has focused on issues such as multiculturalism, race, citizenship, sexual diversity, and gender identity. This text aims to contribute to the discussion of this issue in theological ethics. From the point of view of the Social Doctrine of the Church, the recognition of human rights expressed in the struggles of women, black people, the LGBT population, and indigenous peoples are also demands for social justice. Policies of recognition and policies of redistribution are not opposed. The relationship between social justice and overcoming economic inequalities and those related to the recognition of identities is close. The importance of collective rights is affirmed. Symbolic/cultural injustice is the other side of social injustice. Rights of equality must be articulated with rights of difference. Thinking about the articulation between human rights, recognition, and social justice, a category proper to moral theology, is no easy task. But this text proposes to do so.

NOTES ON THE LEGAL-PASTORAL INTEGRATION OF ECCLESIASTICAL MATRIMONIAL VERDICT

Jose Carlos Linhares Pontes Jr C.Ss.R. — 2025-09-22

The mission of the Church cannot do without justice, truth, and mercy. These are the guiding values of the daily activity carried out in the courts where marriage annulment proceedings are heard. In addition to technical competence, a correct understanding of the pastoral munus is necessary, which links the service provided in the tribunals with other pastoral activities in the Church. The integration between canonical judicial pastoral care and family pastoral care provides systematic accompaniment on the issue of marriage. Unfortunately, some agents who work in this context use procedural form to serve the application of justice in the Church. Magistrates are invited to develop their technical munus by treating each case validly and lawfully, in full harmony with the pastoral munus intrinsic to the ecclesiastical office they exercise, with a view to a sentence that respects both the formal dimension of the procedural rite and the particularity of each situation brought before the court.

DIPLOMATIC ACTION AGAINST DOM HELDER CAMARA

Manoel Moraes de Almeida — 2025-09-22

This article analyzes the documents revealed by the Dom Helder Camara Truth Commission of Pernambuco, which received them from Brazilian’s foreign office (Itamaraty). Their publication represents an achievement of the right to memory and truth, revealing the diplomatic action against the Brazilian prelate who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times. The methodology applied in this essay was based on content analysis and internal criticism of the documents made available. Among the primary sources are confidential diplomatic correspondence that reports on the intense activity of diplomatic agents and their strategies behind the scenes of the Brazilian state's lobbying against the international recognition that the Nobel Peace Prize would give to Dom Helder Camara and his struggles for justice and peace. This is, therefore, one of the most important discoveries in studies on the relationship between Church and State in Brazil in the field of transitional justice.

SAINT AUGUSTINE AND THE LEGAL HERMENEUTIC

Silvia Alves — 2025-09-09

The method of biblical exegesis proposed by Saint Augustine is one of the groundworks of legal hermeneutics. From the text "Christian Doctrine," one can extract a scientific theory of interpretation that addresses the most intricate issues of contemporary times, such as, for example, polysemy, teleology, and ambiguity, which are obtained from the signs and forms of discourse. Thus, the vectors for legal interpretation, drawn from Augustinian thought, are of unquestionable relevance to today’s law science.

LEGAL RHETORIC OF GLOSSATORS

Dimas Ferreira Lopes — 2025-09-09

The history of the revival of Roman law in universities in the late Middle Ages is intertwined with the social and political role of the Catholic Church at that time. Under the methodological framework of the Trivium, the Digest was taught in rhetoric classes at nascent universities, allowing its contents to be unraveled and handled first by professors during the period of the glossators, and later by jurists linked to the school of commentators. With the development of the school of commentators, the metalanguage (glosses) produced at the founding of the universities was linked to Canon Law, which functioned as the hermeneutic mechanism for updating the law, thus enabling a shift from theory to practice. Consequently, with the commentators, the knowledge produced in universities enabled a new social and political role for that institution, since it was an instrument for the resolution of disputes submitted to the law.