Jefferson Powell

Jefferson Powell

Professor of Law and Divinity, jointly with Duke Law School

(919) 613-7098
powell@law.duke.edu
Law School Room 4034

Duke Law School
Box 90360
Durham, NC 27708-0360











Biography


Professor Powell's teaching and research interests in the Divinity School are in Christian theological ethics and in the theological interpretation of contemporary society. His books include A Community Built on Words (2002) and he was a contributor to the recent collection of Christian Perspectives on Legal Thought (Michael @. McConnell et al. eds. 2001). He is a lay Episcopalian and a parishioner at St. Luke's Church, Durham.


Professor Powell has served in both the federal and state governments, as a deputy assistant attorney general and as Principal Deputy Solicitor General in the U.S. Department of Justice, and as special counsel to the Attorney General of North Carolina. He has briefed and argued cases in both federal and state courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States.




    
Degrees

    
B.A., St. David’s University College, Wales 
M.Div., J.D., Yale University 
A.M., Ph.D., Duke University









    
Publications

    
Books


    

  • The Moral Tradition of American Constitutionalism: A Theological Interpretation 
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  • The President’s Authority over Foreign Affairs: An essay in constitutional interpretation 
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  • A Community Built on Words: The Constitution in History and Politics 
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Articles


    

  • "Loyalty to the Law: Politics and the Practice of Public Lawyering in the United States," 72 Notre Dame L. Rev. 78 (1996);
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  • "Who’s Afraid of Thomas Cromwell?", 74 Chicago-Kent L. Rev. 393 (1999).
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  • "The Earthly Peace of the Liberal Republic," in Christian Perspectives on Legal Thought (Michael W. McConnell, Robert F. Cochran, Jr., & Angela Carmella ed. 2001)
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Courses

    
    

  • Community, Faith and Violence
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  • American Constitutional History
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  • The Culture of American Law
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  • Theological Dimensions of American Law and Politics
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Additional Information

    
Links 





Recommendations


    

  • Olivier Clément, The Roots of Christian Mysticism
    • 

  • John Milbank, Theology and Social Theory
    • 

  • James Boyd White, "This Book of Starres": Learning to Read George Herbert
    • 

  • John T. Wilcox, The Bitterness of Job
    •