John Witte, Jr.

John Witte Jr. is Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law, McDonald Distinguished Professor, and Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion (CSLR) at Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia. He is one of the world's foremost experts on legal history, marriage law, and religious liberty.
Witte has published 200 articles, 13 journal symposia and 29 books. His writings have appeared in 12 languages, and he has lectured and convened conferences throughout North America, Western and Eastern Europe, Japan, Israel, Hong Kong, Australia, and South Africa. With major funding from The Pew Charitable Trusts, Ford Foundation, Lilly Endowment Inc, Henry Luce Foundation, and McDonald Agape Foundation, he has directed 12 major international projects on democracy, human rights, and religious liberty, and on marriage, family, and children. These projects have collectively yielded more than 160 new volumes and 250 public forums around the world. He edits two major book series, “Studies in Law and Religion,” and “Religion, Marriage and Family.” He has been selected 12 times by the Emory law students as the Most Outstanding Professor and has won dozens of other awards and prizes for his teaching and research.

Witte received a BA from Calvin College in 1982 and a J.D. from Harvard in 1985. While at Harvard he studied under Harold J. Berman.

Witte is married to Eliza Ellison, a theologian and trained mediator. They have two daughters and four grandchildren.