AbstractThe chapter examines the various contrasts that were developed in Western traditions between “civil” societies and “pre-civilized” societies in the state of nature. The rights of Indigenous peoples were drawn into early modern debates concerning property, often with reference to biblical arguments. Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) argued that no property rights could be securely established without the support of a unified civil society under a single sovereign. Among the alternatives to this Hobbesian view, the legal theorist Samuel Pufendorf (1632–1694) argued that a single state could embrace multiple societies, each with their own norms and values. When it came to the reiteration of the common law tradition in the newly minted United States, Chief Justice John Marshall ostensibly adopted the more pluralist line in the 1820s and ’30s when he entrenched the idea of “domestic” Indian nations. In the years leading up to the American War of Independence, there had been a growing conviction among the patriots that some fundamental rights stemmed from the state of nature, rather than from civil society. On this view, Indian lands could then be legitimately transferred to colonists via purchase, treaty or conquest, rather than being claimed by right of discovery. The protection of fragile Indigenous rights became a commonplace trope in public and legal discourses.

27 Jun 2024·Indigenous Rights and the Legacies of the Bible

Discovery and War

Author: Brett, Mark G

AbstractThe chapter begins with an examination of the ideas of discovery and jurisdiction in sixteenth-century Catholic sources, along with associated developments in theories of just war. An overture to this story includes Christopher Columbus’s El libro de las profecías (1502), in which the book of Isaiah figures prominently in his interpretation of European discovery and conquest in the Indies. An influential canon lawyer, Juan López de Palacios Rubios, defended papal authority while at the same time providing an account of Indian property rights in Libellus de insulis oceanis quas vulgus indias appelat (1512–1516). This work explains how the rules of war in Deut 20:10–12, along with other sanctions, helped to shape the notorious requerimiento, a brutal and self-contradictory legal “requirement” designed to legitimate the Spanish wars of conquest between 1513 and 1548. Bartolomé de Las Casas and Francisco de Vitoria, among others from the Salamanca School, famously derided the requerimiento. Rather than sharing no common ground, Palacios Rubios, Las Casas, and Vitoria can all be located within long-standing traditions of canon law and biblical interpretation. The famous debate between Las Casas and Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda in Valladolid (1550–1551) addressed new legal questions that arose long after the major wars of conquest, and the Lascasian arguments in this debate later influenced the Protestant reformulations of the doctrine of discovery in the seventeenth century.

27 Jun 2024·Indigenous Rights and the Legacies of the Bible

Humans and Other Creatures

Author: Brett, Mark G

AbstractThe chapter discusses the modern sciences of ethnography and anthropology, and their impact on the history of biblical interpretation. According to Edward B. Tylor, for example, the narratives in Genesis contained indications of “animism,” as he famously framed the concept in the nineteenth century. Eschewing Tylor’s own imperial pretensions, this chapter takes up the more recent notions of animism in anthropological studies and applies them to the Bible. The peculiarities of the biblical traditions can also be brought into dialogue with sixteenth century Kabbalistic discussions of tsimtsum—an idea of divine withdrawal that leaves traces of God throughout creation but also allows for intensifications of divine presence at particular places. This Jewish reinterpretation of the Priestly traditions offers its own critique of colonial biblical interpretation already in the sixteenth century, while also playing a later role in the formation of German idealist philosophy.

100 Deals associated with Divinity University of

100 Translational Medicine associated with Divinity University of

Corporation Tree

Boost your research with our corporation tree data.

view full example data

Pipeline

Pipeline Snapshot as of 15 Dec 2025

No data posted

Deal

Boost your decision using our deal data.

view full example data

Translational Medicine

Boost your research with our translational medicine data.

view full example data

Profit

Explore the financial positions of over 360K organizations with Synapse.

view full example data

Grant & Funding(NIH)

Access more than 2 million grant and funding information to elevate your research journey.

view full example data

Investment

Gain insights on the latest company investments from start-ups to established corporations.

view full example data

Financing

Unearth financing trends to validate and advance investment opportunities.

view full example data

AI Agents Built for Biopharma Breakthroughs

Accelerate discovery. Empower decisions. Transform outcomes.

Get started for free today!

Accelerate Strategic R&D decision making with Synapse, PatSnap’s AI-powered Connected Innovation Intelligence Platform Built for Life Sciences Professionals.

Start your data trial now!

Synapse data is also accessible to external entities via APIs or data packages. Empower better decisions with the latest in pharmaceutical intelligence.

Bio

Bio Sequences Search & Analysis

Chemical

Chemical Structures Search & Analysis

Divinity University of

Overview

Related

Corporation Tree

Pipeline

Pipeline Snapshot as of 15 Dec 2025

Deal

Translational Medicine

Profit

Grant & Funding(NIH)

Investment

Financing