An Introduction to Canon Law

by James A. Coriden

Canon law is the name given to the rules that govern church order and discipline of the Roman Catholic Church. This valuable book, which has been updated to reflect changes and adaptations in canon law and new resources in the field, offers an introductory orientation of all of canon law. A superb teaching and learning tool, it provides outlines and overviews of relatively complex areas of canon law, sketches the basic structure and design of the various offices and functions within the church and how they relate to each other, and gives an orientation to the more important areas of canon law, as well as a background and context within which more detailed rules can be understood. Two appendices offer guidance for doing canonical research and case studies for further discussion. †

Genres: Theology, Law, Religion

243 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1991

Reviews

[Peter Davids · Rating 5 out of 5]

Canon Law is not everyone's favorite subject, but every church community has its equivalent. It is the rules and procedures that are followed, oral or written. In the Catholic Church it is very much written, for a large body of believers needs a well-organized body of rules, definitions, and directives, so that everyone is on the same page. Coriden does an excellent job of giving the rationale for the organization of the body of canon law, setting out its history, and then going over the core laws in summary form. He makes it clear, he makes it logical, he makes one want to read the whole body of canon law. And that is his purpose. He tells the reader at the beginning that this is an introduction to help the reader make sense of the whole body. So this reader went and checked out some of the critical sections. Sure enough, Coriden had made them clear and with his introduction it was easy to follow and comprehend the whole. Now this was written over the Catholic Church's canon law, but it would make good reading for other church communities - they could avoid reinventing the wheel, avoid problems before they started, and also avoid making pronouncements about the Catholic Church that are not accurate (I recently read someone, a Protestant, who said that marriage annulment was easy in the Catholic Church - he obviously was not familiar with the Catholic Canon Law). If one wishes to explore this area of the Catholic Church, this book is the place to start.

[Jacabaeus · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolutely excellent introduction and overview of Catholic (Roman rite) canon law. Very readable, easily digestible, and well constructed writing. The only thing I wish it did was delve a little further in to procedure (such as forms and how litigation is conducted).

[Patti Clement · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my textbooks for graduate school canon law class. It was a good overview of the law.

[Happyhappa]

Interesting book ...