John Courtney Murray, “The Juridical State,” and the Catholic Theory of Religious Freedom

Abstract

John Courtney Murray is remembered today primarily for the essays gathered in We Hold These Truths exploring the nature of the American experiment in self-government and religious pluralism, its compatibility with Catholicism, and contemporary America's quest for a public philosophy. As important as these essays have proven to be, however they do not reflect the primary focus of Murray's work. As George Weigel has suggested, Murray's life's work is best seen as a series of "concentric circles," the innermost of which concerned Catholic teaching on Church-state relations and the nature and scope of religious freedom.