Description
The story of "natural law" - the idea that God has written a law on the human heart so that ethical norms derive from human nature - in twentieth-century Protestant ethics is one of rejection and resurgence. For half a century, luminaries like Karl Barth, Carl F. H. Henry, and Cornelius Van Til cast a shadow over natural law moral reflection because of its putative link to natural theology, autonomous reason, associations with Catholic theology, and ethical witness devoid of special revelation. However, over the past twenty years, Protestant theologians have renewed their interest in the subject, often animated by debates on Christian involvement in the public arena and on matters of life, death, and gender and sexuality. Much of this engagement has happened within Reformed circles and has largely been conducted without reference to Roman Catholic construals of the natural law. Conversely, Catholic developments in natural-law thinking have paid little attention to the surge of interest on the Protestant side. As a result, Protestant and Catholic natural proponents - and even those skeptical of the natural law - are not in conversation with one another.
The lack of dialog between the various schools of natural law has left a historic tradition within Christan moral thought underdeveloped in contemporary Protestant theology. By bringing together a variety of perspectives in much-needed conversation, this book helps readers to understand the various construals of natural law within the broader strands of Christian and classical traditions and clarifies its unique importance for Christian moral witness in a secular culture. The contributors address the following questions:
- What is natural law?
- Can moral norms be derived from immanent, creaturely ends? If so, how specific or action-guiding can those norms be? How extensive might these moral norms be?
- How does natural law endure despite Christian insistence on the noetic, epistemological effects of sin?
- What is the relationship between Christian reflection on natural law and the broader classical tradition's understanding of natural law?
- How do Catholic and Protestant construals of natural law differ?
- What is the relationship between faith and reason?
- What's the relationship between human nature and natural law?
- Does "natural law" mean: "secular moral reasons"? Or is "natural law" merely religious belief disguised as public reason?
- How does natural law relate to public reason?
- Does the affirmation of a "natural law" lead to a natural theology? Or are these distinct?
- What is the relationship between natural law and the laws of nature?
Five views:
- Classical Natural Law - Michael Pakaluk
- New Natural Law - Melissa Moschella
- Reformed Natural Law - W. Bradford Littlejohn
- Lutheran Natural Law - Joel D. Bierman
- Anti-Natural Law - Peter J. Leithart
Table of Contents
Introduction, by Ryan T. Anderson and Andrew T. Walker
- The Classical Understanding of Natural Law, by Michael Pakaluk
- A Lutheran Understanding of Natural Law, by Joel D. Biermann
- Reformed Natural Law, by Brad Littlejohn
- The “New” Natural Law, by Melissa Moschella
Anti–Natural Law, by Peter J. Leithart
Concluding Remarks, by Ryan T. Anderson and Andrew T. Walker
PRAISE FOR NATURAL LAW: FIVE VIEWS
“This lively volume should be both welcomed and read.”
—R. ALBERT MOHLER JR., president, Centennial Professor of Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
“An invaluable treatment, by an assemblage of superb scholars, of the diversity of approaches to natural law and the variety of philosophical and theological issues that arise in connection with it.”
—EDWARD FESER, professor of philosophy, Pasadena City College
“This is academic exchange at its best, shedding light on—and contributing to—the dominant philosophical current in Western thought for over two millennia.”
—SHERIF GIRGIS, associate professor of law, Notre Dame Law School
"The authors manage to be both collegial and polemical and in doing so invite readers to join a perennial discussion about truly important issues for those pursuing a faithful Christian life in a fallen world.”
—DAVID VANDRUNEN, Robert B. Strimple Professor of Systematic Theology and Christian Ethics, Westminster Seminary California
“A timely and illuminating discussion of God’s design in nature and the moral obligations he places upon us.”
—JOE RIGNEY, fellow of theology, New Saint Andrews College
“Intellectually stimulating.”
—ROBERT P. GEORGE, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University
