I am presenting a paper on “Hate Speech – Vilification Laws and Threats to Freedom” this week, and a copy is available here to download for those interested. As well as comment on a number of other cases, there is some comment on the recent Wertheim v Haddad s 18C decision, and the litigation involving “Billboard Chris”.
On behalf of the organisers, I am happy once again to post (for academic, and academically inclined, readers!) a call for papers for a symposium to be held in Canberra in February 2026.
Call for Papers- 6th Annual Symposium on Jurisprudence and Theology
Date & time: 13 February 2026 9:00am – 5:00pm
Venue: ANU Law School , Australian National University in Canberra.
It is often thought that modern analytic jurisprudence has left theology behind. Think again. Consider the following quote from the Hart-land of jurisprudence:
If men are not devils, neither are they angels; and the fact that they are a mean between these two extremes is something which makes a system of mutual forbearances both necessary and possible. With angels, never tempted to harm others, rules requiring forbearances would not be necessary. With devils prepared to destroy, reckless of the cost to themselves, they would be impossible. (HLA Hart, The Concept of Law, 196)
Neither angels nor demons would have the kind of legal system that we have. Law is situated precariously between heaven and hell. This jurisprudential insight is dripping with theological speculation. It seems that jurisprudence is not done with theology yet.
This symposium – the sixth in the series – continues the conversation at the intersection of jurisprudence and theology, broadly understood. We welcome papers that explore this intersection from diverse interdisciplinary perspectives, from all faith traditions and none, and from both faculty members and postgraduate students.
Past symposia were held at the University of Notre Dame Australia (2019), the University of Sydney (2022), the University of Adelaide (2023), the University of Southern Queensland (2024), and the Queensland University of Technology (2025).
Please submit your abstracts (100-200 words) with your name and institutional affiliation to A/Prof Joshua Neoh (joshua.neoh@anu.edu.au) before 1 November 2025.
More details are to be found here: https://law.anu.edu.au/news-and-events/events/call-papers-6th-annual-symposium-jurisprudence-and-theology
Law, politics and culture from a Christian perspective
Professor of Law whose research interrogates the interaction between law and humanities, with particular expertise in Law and Religion and Legal History. All views my own.
Law and Religion Australia 