The End of Law

The research project will conduct an interdisciplinary study of the secularisation of the C hristian eschatological idea of an end to law. The development of modern thought shows that the idea that law could end has not only been central to important strands of C hristian theology. This apocalyptic view of law as something finite has also
become secularized in modern political visions, such as anarchist, conservative, Marxist, and neoliberal thought, through the hope for an end or radical limitation of law. Yet, the question of the end of law is a curious blind spot in legal and theological thought; a sort of taboo functioning as a repressed other to jurisprudence and religion. By inquiring into the secularization of the end of law, our project probes the historical development of the idea of the end of law and what it implies. There are at
least three different sides: end as goal, what the law seeks to achieve; end as finitude and limit, which finite community or state the law belongs to; and the eclipse or conclusion of law, for how long it will last.
The project will address the lack of discussions of the end of law in religious studies, legal scholarship and political theology. The aim is to dissolve the blind spots of jurisprudence and theology by articulating tacit assumptions. This will be done through a structured interdisciplinary conversation between legal and religious
studies, resulting in scholarly texts co-authored by scholars from both fields.