This blog is an outgrowth of a law review article coauthored by Robert Renaud and Lael Weinberger, Spheres of Sovereignty: Church Autonomy Doctrine and the Theological Heritage of the Separation of Church and State. Forthcoming, 35 N. Ky. L. Rev. (Issue 1, May 2008).
Bob Renaud is a third year Juris Doctor candidate at Oak Brook College of Law. He has written a number of articles on the First Amendment and Church Autonomy issues, which have been published in the publications of the Christian Statesman, Counsel of Chalcedon, and Vision Forum Ministries. Bob serves as the youngest board member of The Conservative Caucus, a non-partisan, nationwide public policy research and advocacy group, founded and directed by the Hon. Howard Phillips. In the fall of 2003, Bob served as a special assistant to Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore during his historic trial. Bob has served as an Executive Assistant to Doug Phillips, president of Vision Forum Ministries, for the last eight years, which has included working as a speechwriter, editor, and researcher for this multifaceted educational organization. In the process, he has traveled to most of the 50 states. Bob has been invited to speak on the subject of church autonomy at the Witherspoon School, a national legal forum on law, theology, and culture.
Lael Weinberger is also a third year J.D. student at Oak Brook College of Law. History has been his hobby since he learned to read. Eventually, that took him to studying early American constitutions and court cases, which led (more or less directly) to law school. And because he has always been interested in the relationship between theological issues, history, and law, writing about church autonomy was a natural fit. Lael has also written an article on the First Amendment and Ten Commandments displays, The Monument and the Message: Pragmatism and Principle in Establishment Clause Ten Commandments Litigation, Forthcoming, Texas Wesleyan Law Review (2008). Lael’s other assorted academic endeavors have included serving as a student editor of the Oak Brook College Journal of Law and Government Policy and writing a variety of articles and book reviews on the subject of Christian apologetics, which have appeared in Creation, Journal of Creation, TJ, and Creation Matters.