This Essay, which was written for a Law and Contemporary Problems symposium on Stanley Hauerwas, tries to develop an account of public engagement in Hauerwas’ theology. The Essay distinguishes between two kinds of public engagement, "prophetic" and "participatory." Christian engagement is prophetic when it criticizes or condemns the state, often by urging the state to honor or alter its true principles.

Abstract:

On April 20, 2005, President Bush signed into law the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA). BAPCPA was hailed by some as a sensible overhaul of the bankruptcy code aimed towards decreasing repeat bankruptcy filing rates. In this article, the authors  consider specific changes that BAPCPA made to the Bankruptcy Code. Some of these changes were specifically targeted at the congressional view that repeat bankruptcy filings are largely the result of strategic and irresponsible behavior.

This paper is inspired directly by two articles coauthored by Professors Bebchuk and Fried, which comprehensively questioned the efficiency of the bankruptcy priority awarded to secured claims. It starts by pointing out the following efficiency benefit of such priority largely unmentioned in the legal literature, including the Bebchuk and Fried articles: the priority of secured debts undermines borrowers’ incentives to pursue excessively risky investment projects under certain circumstances.

The characteristics of bankrupt households (such as income and asset levels) vary widely across  states. This paper asks whether these variations can be attributed to state exemption laws or state garnishment laws. Using a new household-level dataset, the author finds that high exemption levels encourage high asset households to file for bankruptcy while high garnishment rates encourage low income households to file for bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy Code Section 502(b)(6) caps a landlord's claim against a debtor-tenant. Courts disagree on whether the provision caps damages for past breaches of non-rent lease covenants, such as a tenant's contractual obligation to maintain and repair the premises. This Article contends that 502(b)(6) caps only those damages authorized under applicable nonbankruptcy law that are triggered by the termination of the lease, regardless of whether termination occurs before or after the petition date.

In response to objections causing wasteful, unnecessary and inappropriate delay in the bankruptcy sale context, this article concludes that bankruptcy courts should employ a preliminary injunction-like standard for evaluating objections to bankruptcy sales.   Employing a strict, preliminary injunction-like standard should decrease the possibility that parties-in-interest will introduce an improvident delay into the bankruptcy sale process.  By preventing inappropriate delay, courts will ensure that parties receive an appropriate amou

Abstract:     

This paper  examines the determinants of missed payments and foreclosure initiation among a national sample of homeowners who filed for personal bankruptcy in 2007, using a rich dataset from the 2007 Consumer Bankruptcy Project.