About the Event

America’s Leadership Crisis

America is in a leadership crisis because our rulers have ignored God’s Word as the foundation for law and liberty. Sadly, few seeking office are offering hope for a return to the biblical principles that once made our nation great. More troubling still, most Christians involved in the political process as well as the legal profession are not prepared to lead in the ways of righteousness because they lack a full-orbed biblical worldview. While often well-intentioned, many are ill-equipped to champion a biblical approach to law and public policy because they are ignorant of America’s great Christian legal heritage.

Preparing the Dedicated Minority

Enter the Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy, a four-day crash course in biblical principles of law and public policy specifically designed for men who desire to address the challenges of the day in a coherent, biblical manner. The Witherspoon School is especially helpful for young men who desire to influence our nation for righteousness and who recognize that to do so, they must communicate an entire world and life view as dictated by Holy Scripture.

Before you spend four years and $75,000 to learn Charles Darwin’s philosophy of law, take four days to get the Founding Fathers’!

Patrick Henry prepared for his career as an attorney by studying the Bible and its application to law. So did James Madison. Charles Finney decided to be an attorney, but while reading the law books of his days he was confronted with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and gave up law to become an evangelist. In fact, the second most popular book at the time of the American War for Independence was Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England, a four-volume text predicated on the symbiotic link between Holy Scripture and law.

James Madison

Times have changed! Of the 750,000 lawyers in America today, 749,500 have been systematically trained in an evolutionary approach to law and public policy. Since the time of Charles Darwin’s attack on the biblical account of human origins, American lawmakers have sought to remove God from government. Today, most lawyers and politicians believe that law evolves to fit the changing needs of society, and that man is the ultimate lawmaker. John Witherspoon disagreed. From his classroom in Princeton, New Jersey, this forgotten patriot taught an entire generation of Christian policy makers to build a world and life view from the eternal principles of justice revealed in Holy Scripture. The men who graduated from his classes shared a common understanding that for law to be just it must come from God, not the changing whims of a majority. The result—Witherspoon’s academic and spiritual progeny were the men who drafted the Constitution of the United States and led our nation to greatness.

Class Description

In honor of John Witherspoon’s legacy, students of the Witherspoon School are exposed to distinctively biblical training under leading Christian attorneys and historians. They study the Scriptural foundations for: the influence of Christianity on the Constitution; the relationship between the case laws of Exodus and the Common Law; and the writings of Sir William Blackstone. This course also features a practical and biblical examination of options in legal education including law school, apprenticeship, correspondence courses, and more.

Witherspoon Topics

• The Common Law and the Bible
• Jurisdiction: The Biblical Basis for Authority
• An Introduction to the Tort Laws of Exodus
• Biblical Perspective on Contracts
• Dominion and Private Property
• Top Ten Public Policy Issues
• Philosophies Which Cripple Christians
• Biblical Ethics for Lawyers and Statesman
• The Emergence of Liberty in the West
• Christianity and the Constitution
• Restitution and Capital Punishment
• Choosing a Law Career
• The Failure of the Modern Law School
• Alternatives to Law School

Is the Witherspoon School for You?

The Witherspoon School is designed for the following people:

• Young men who are considering a vocation in law or public policy
• Men currently attending law school
• Men of all ages who hope to be grounded in a biblical and constitutional perspective on law and public policy

For those involved in law and public policy or considering pursuing this course, the Witherspoon School seeks to address these questions, among others:

• What does it mean to be a Christian attorney or lawmaker?
• Is law the right vocation for me?
• How can I serve God in these areas without compromising my values and my family?

Limited Space

Because of our emphasis on personal discipleship and training, The Witherspoon School is limited to only one hundred and fifty participants. Students are accepted on a first-come/first-serve basis.

What to Wear

Students are required to wear slacks and collared shirts during classroom time. Coat and tie are required for special reception events.

Materials

As part of their admission fee, students will receive required books and materials from Vision Forum. Please bring plenty of pens and paper to take notes with.

Tuition

Tuition is $895.00 per person or $1590.00 for a Father and Son. (Each additional son is $795.00 each). Tuition includes meals starting with breakfast on Wednesday morning, and ending with lunch on Saturday, lodging for four nights starting Tuesday, books, materials and admission. Students will stay at the Fredericksburg Hospitality House which is located in the heart of Central Park, a large shopping, dining and entertainment area just off Interstate 95. The Hotel is surrounded by well-known Civil War battlefields including, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania as well as The Stonewall Jackson Shrine. Historic Fredericksburg - 350 original 18th and 19th century buildings in a 40-block historic district with trolley tours, unique antique and specialty shops and restaurants is just minute away.

Accommodations

Each father and son group will be placed in a room with two beds . Students attending the Witherspoon School as individuals should expect to share a room with one other student. A limited number of private rooms for individuals are available at a rate of $1295.

Shuttle Service

Chop Chop shuttle has scheduled shuttle service to Dulles and Reagan National and can service Richmond and BWI by reservation. Click here to visit their website, view schedules and make reservations online. We are 1 hour from the Reagan National and Richmond airport and about 1 1/2 from Dulles.

Below are the shuttle times which run Monday through Friday and Saturday (none on Sunday):

Washington/Dulles International Airport (IAD) 7:00am -10:00am - 1:00pm - 4:00pm - 7:00pm - 10:00pm

Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) 7:30am - 10:30am - 1:30pm - 4:30pm - 7:30pm - 10:30pm

Recording of Sessions

Audio recording or filming of the sessions is prohibited.

Please Note

The Witherspoon School of Law admits students of any race, color, and national or ethnic origin. The goal of this event is to bless and serve the Lord. Vision Forum Ministries reserves the right to decline acceptance of any applicant for any other reason, should it be necessary to better accomplish this goal and promote harmony.