Menachem Mendel

Over the past few years I have read a number of articles by the person who essentially created the modern study of Canon Law, Stephen Kuttner. Today, while doing some research, I came across an obituary of his (he died in 1996) which said that he was of Jewish ancestry. A little Goggling turned up an old Time magazine article from 1963 with the following description of his background,

The son of a Jewish mother, German-born Lawyer Kuttner, 56, grew up as a Lutheran, became a Catholic after fleeing the Nazis in 1933. He learned canon law as a refugee researcher in the Vatican library, became one of the world’s top scholars in a field usually dominated by the clergy.

One can see from this bibliography of his voluminous writings how prolific a researcher he was, and maybe in some way his methodology and research in the study of Canon Law will influence some who study Jewish Law, connecting him to what very well may also be his own cultural and religious heritage.

Posted on June 18th, 2007 under Uncategorized • RSS 2.0 feed • Both comments and pings are currently closed