John Inazu

John Inazu is the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion at Washington University in St. Louis.  

His latest book is Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect (Zondervan, 2024).

Inazu is also the author of Liberty's Refuge: The Forgotten Freedom of Assembly (Yale University Press, 2012) and Confident Pluralism: Surviving and Thriving Through Deep Difference (University of Chicago Press, 2016). He is co-editor (with Tim Keller) of Uncommon Ground: Living Faithfully in a World of Difference (Thomas Nelson, 2020).

Inazu is the founder of The Carver Project and the Legal Vocation Fellowship, a Senior Fellow with the Trinity Forum, and a Senior Fellow with Interfaith America, where he co-directs (with Eboo Patel) the Newbigin Fellows.

Inazu’s latest book is Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect.

Learning to Disagree seeks to help people disagree better. We are not very good at disagreement: we view our adversaries not only as wrong but increasingly as evil, we resist notions of forgiveness, and we distrust institutions that try to mediate our disagreements.

The book’s narrative flow follows the course of an academic year. Each chapter addresses a question for each month:

August: How Do We Learn Empathy?
September: Can We Know What’s Fair?
October: What Happens When We Can’t Compromise?
November: Can We Have Difficult Conversations?
December: Can We See People Instead of Problems?
January: Can We Trust Faith?
February: Can Anything Be Neutral?
March: Where is the Line Between Wrong and Evil?
April: Is Forgiveness Possible?
May: Can We Be Friends?

Learning to Disagree won’t tell you what to believe, but it will change the way you engage with disagreement.

 

 

Teaching

Inazu holds a joint appointment in Washington University's School of Law and the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics.  He teaches both law students and undergraduates.  You can learn more about his courses below.

 

Criminal Law

The introductory first year course covers the basics of criminal law including theories of punishment and sentencing, elements of criminal offenses, defenses, and tools of statutory interpretation.

 

Religion and The constitution

An introductory course to the theory, history, and doctrine of the religion clauses of the Constitution.  The law school course includes greater detail in the doctrine, particularly at the intersection of other First Amendment concerns.  The undergraduate course, co-taught with Mark Valeri, includes more attention to history and social context.

 

Advanced Seminars

Recent law student and undergraduate seminars include:


Beyond Boundaries

The Beyond Boundaries program at Washington University is an interdisciplinary initiative that encourages co-teaching by faculty across school and departmental lines. Inazu teaches with Penina Laker from the Sam Fox School of Design a course called Law, Race, and Design: Examining the St. Louis Story.

 

Other Books and Articles

Confident Pluralism

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Liberty'S Refuge

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Uncommon Ground

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Scholarly Articles