Visting Scholar Joseph David Lectures on “Law Religion and Technology"

Visting Scholar Joseph David Lectures on “Law Religion and Technology"

On Tuesday, February 25, 2025, The Center for the Study of Law and Religion and the Center for International and Comparative Law welcomed Professor Joseph David for a lecture and discussion on law, religion, and technology. Professor Joseph David is Professor of Law at Sapir Academic College and a Visiting Professor at New York University School of Law as The Berkowitz Fellow. 

 In the Hunter Atrium, David discussed how western civilization has traditionally positioned law and religion as its foundational pillars - two distinct yet intertwined sources of meaning and social order. Technology, by contrast, has been relegated to a subordinate role, viewed primarily through its instrumental effects on societal development. This approach has fostered a perception of delicate equilibria among these domains, notwithstanding periodic tensions, and confrontations.  At the conclusion of David's lecture at 5:15pm, participants articulated that he challenged this conventional narrative by scrutinizing the unprecedented convergence of law, religion, and data-driven technologies. It poses an essential inquiry: In what ways does the advent of data science destabilize or render obsolete the historical balances between law, religion, and technology? 

The following morning, students were given the opportunity to delve deeper into that question as they joined Prof. David for breakfast in the Berman Library. There alongside members of The Center for the Study of Law and Religion faculty and staff, they continued the conversation with Prof. David about his work on law, religion, and technology. 

View a recording of David’s lecture here: Law Religion and Technology — Joseph David.