2023 McElroy Lecture on Law & Religion

The McElroy Lecture on Law and Religion provides a forum for prominent thinkers to address fundamental issues of law and religion. The annual McElroy Lecture is made possible through a bequest from Detroit Mercy Law alumnus Philip J. McElroy.

This year’s lecture, titled “Religious Lawyering in a Polarized World” will be presented by Dr. Amy Uelmen.

OVERVIEW: Building on the seminal work of Tom Shaffer (On Being a Christian a Lawyer, 1981), the late 1990s and early 2000s saw a very creative ferment in reflection on how religious values might inform legal education and the practice of law. Much of this "religious lawyering" work relied on core presumptions and convictions about the foundations of the Rule of Law, liberal democracy, and the legal profession's capacity to welcome and critically discuss differing approaches to professional life. This lecture will consider how cultural and political changes in the intervening years have arguably tested some of these assumptions, and in light of that history, probe what religious lawyering insights might contribute to current debates in legal ethics and approaches to professional life.

ABOUT DR. AMY UELMEN: Dr. Amy Uelmen is the Director for Mission & Ministry at Georgetown Law, a Lecturer in Religion & Professional Life, and a Senior Research Fellow at Georgetown’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. Her seminars at Georgetown Law include: Religion & the Work of a Lawyer and Religion, Morality & Contested Claims for Justice. She is the author of numerous academic and popular publications, including “Five Steps to Healing Polarization in the Classroom,” with New City Press. Her BA, JD and SJD are from Georgetown, and her MA in Theology is from Fordham. A longtime member of the Focolare community, her grassroots community work focuses on interreligious dialogue, projects for economic justice, and workshops to heal cultural and political polarization.

LOCATION: ROOM 226 at Detroit Mercy Law. Reception immediately following lecture in the atrium.

PARKING: Available in the LAZ Garage located at 589 Congress Street. See map below. Street parking may also be available on Jefferson Ave., Larned St., St. Antoine St., and Congress St.