Nature, Law, and the Sacred

This collection of essays, presented in honor of Ronna Burger, addresses questions and themes that have animated her thinking, teaching, and writing over the years. With a view to the scope of her writings, these essays range broadly: from the Bible and Ancient Greek authors--including not only Plato and Aristotle, but also Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Xenophon--to medieval thinkers, Maimonides, Dante, and Boccaccio, as well as modern philosophers, from Descartes and Montesquieu to Kant, Lessing, Hegel, and Kierkegaard. Moving in order from antiquity to modernity, the essays highlight certain recurring philosophical issues, including the relations between nature and convention, law and justice, human and divine, in light of the indispensable need for questioning and self-knowledge. Taken collectively, the essays disclose intriguing connections among the various authors and texts and display how the themes of nature, law, and the sacred continue to resonate across time. Contributors include Seth Appelbaum, Steven Berg, Robert Berman, Michael Davis, Derek Duplessie, Jacob Howland, Mary Nichols, Matthew Oberrieder, Clifford Orwin, Evanthia Speliotis, Nathan Tarcov, Jason Tipton, Peter Vedder, Richard Velkley, Stuart Warner, Roslyn Weiss, and Paul Wilford.