Today we welcome Dr. David Skeel and James Sweet to speak about recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that impact the church. Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC was a recent case that raised several important questions. Oyez.org asks, “Does the ministerial exception, which prohibits most employment-related lawsuits against religious organizations by employees performing religious functions, apply to a teacher at a religious elementary school who teaches the full secular curriculum, but also teaches daily religion classes, is a commissioned minister, and regularly leads students in prayer and worship?” Our guests discuss the decision and explain its significance for Christians.

David Skeel is the S. Samuel Arsht Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Pennsylvania and an elder at Tenth Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Philadelphia. He has written an op-ed on the case for the Wall Street Journal. James Sweet is counsel and Director of Special Projects for Westminster Theological Seminary and former chairman of Drinker, Biddle, and Reath.

Participants: Camden Bucey, David Skeel, James Sweet

David Skeel is the S. Samuel Arsht Professor of Corporate Law at University of Pennsylvania Law School and the author of The New Financial Deal: Understanding the Dodd-Frank Act and Its (Unintended) Consequences (Wiley, 2010), Icarus in the Boardroom (Oxford, 2005), and Debt’s Dominion: A History of Bankruptcy Law in America (Princeton, 2001), as well as numerous articles and other publications.

He has been interviewed on The News Hour, Nightline, Chris Matthews’ Hardball (MSNBC), National Public Radio, and Marketplace, among others, and has been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and other newspapers and magazines. Skeel has twice received the Harvey Levin award for outstanding teaching, as selected by a vote of the graduating class, and has also received the University’s Lindback Award for distinguished teaching.

In addition to bankruptcy and corporate law, Skeel also writes on sovereign debt, Christianity and law, and poetry and the law, and is an elder at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.

Participants: Camden Bucey, David Skeel, James Sweet

The Christian’s relationship to the civil law is a perennial point of discussion. Nearly a year ago Christ the Center explored this issue in the Christ & Culture series. Today we take some of those theological themes and see how they apply in practice. James Sweet, former Chairman of Drinker Biddle & Reath, speaks about his career practicing law and how the reality of being a Christian comes to bear.

Participants: Camden Bucey, James Sweet, Jared Oliphint