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Werner Gephart, Daniel Witte (ed).The Sacred and the Law. The Durkheimian LegacyFrankfurt am Main: Klostermann 2017Series of theKäte Hamburger Center forAdvanced Study in the Humanities "Law as Culture"There is little doubt about the importance of Emile Durkheim’s work and the influence it had on the social sciences. His insights into the realms of normativity in particular remain an inspiring mine of information for theoretical reflection and empirical analyses. While his strengths, as we know nowadays, might not have always laid in systematic arguments, his main concerns have shaped the development of social thought in fundamental ways: the question of changing social bonds and the problem of integration; belief and unbelief in societal values; acceptance and rejection of the law, obligation and rights; inner tensions of normative orders; the problem of aligning the polymorphism of normativities with the polymorphic structures of society – and, hence, the project of normative and social pluralism. The Sacred occupies an important dual position in this context: marking an autonomous sphere of the Holy, endangered and upstaged by processes of modernization, and at the same time a fundamental trait of sociality, culture and normativity in general, thus providing the basis even still for modern, ‘secularized’ forms of collective beliefs. The current volume is comprised of contributions from a variety of disciplinary perspectives dealing with a wide range of topics in the realm of normativity in order to recall these important issues and demonstrate the influence and moment of Durkheim’s thinking on matters of the Sacred and the law.The list of contents can be found hereAbout the editors :Werner Gephart is a legal scholar, sociologist, artist, and Founding Director of the Käte Hamburger Center for Advanced Study in the Humanities "Law as Culture"Daniel Witte is sociologist and research coordinator at the Käte Hamburger Center "Law as Culture"Summary :Werner Gephart, Daniel Witte,  The Social, the Sacred and the Cult of Law: Some Introductory Remarks on the Durkheimian Legacy  , p. 7I. In the Realm of NormativitySteven Lukes, Norms as Social Facts, p. 33Stephen Turner, Durkheim as a Neo-Kantian Philosopher, p. 49II. Durkheim as a Reader of Legal StudiesJean-Louis Halpérin, Durkheim et la culture juridique de son temps , p. 73Raja Sakrani, Cultures de droit judaïque et islamique : Un regard durkheimien, p. 93III. The Sacred Ground of Private LawWerner Gephart,  On the Religious Origins of Private Law. Émile Durkheim, Paul Huvelin, and Emmanuel Lévy  , p. 115Laurent de Sutter,  Durkheimian Mysteries: Law, Magic and the Sacred in Paul Huvelin and Marcel Mauss  , p. 139Laura R. Ford,  Legacies of the Sacred in Private Law: Roman Civic Religion, Property, and Contract  , p. 157IV. The Non-Contractual Elements of ContractJean-Louis Fabiani, Contract, Context, Social Action, p. 203Dirk Tänzler, Reading Hobbes with Durkheim: The Ritual Roots of Politics, p. 213V. The Politics of Law and ReligionDaniel Witte,  Passing the Torch: From Durkheim’s Statism to Bourdieu’s Critique of the State  , p. 229Jan Christoph Suntrup,  Deliberation and the “Social Brain”. Durkheim’s Theory of Democracy and Political Legitimacy  , p. 263Prakash Shah, Provincializing Durkheim’s Religion, p. 283Daniel Šuber, Law from Myth? A Study in Living Law in Serbia, p. 301VI. In the Realm of Global NormativityMarta Bucholc, Entangled Normativities: Durkheimian Scenarios for Late Modernity, p. 339Roger Cotterrell,  Moral Individualism Today: Human Rights and Dignity through a Durkheimian Lens  , p. 359