Religious Legal Pluralism in the Shadow of the Centralistic State.

Abstract

Legal pluralism is a useful framework for analysing church-state relationships. Often overlooked, legal diversity also exists within religions. This article examines the interactions between the two. It discusses how church-state arrangements influence the internal legal pluralism of religious systems: how religious actors' depictions of church-state arrangements impact their self-perception of internal legal diversity. Understanding these often-overlooked nuanced and complex influences has descriptive and normative significance. This argument is demonstrated by analysing a case study: the modern transformations of a hyper-pluralistic doctrine in Jewish law, named 'Kim-Li'. Modern legal centralism rendered rabbinical reluctance towards its application. The article reveals the correlation between rabbinical interpretations of the doctrine and particular assumptions and aspirations regarding church-state structures. By employing legal pluralism/law and religion classifications, the article suggests that reactions to the 'shadow of the state' are more diverse and nuanced than the current literature foresees, and concludes by suggesting its rectification.