Comments on: Protestants and Natural Law, Part 3 http://blog.acton.org/archives/1019-protestants-and-natural-law-part-3.html "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:01:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: David Thurman http://blog.acton.org/archives/1019-protestants-and-natural-law-part-3.html#comment-1477 David Thurman Thu, 13 Jul 2006 02:26:51 +0000 http://pb3.acton.org/?p=966#comment-1477 I am always trying to get anyone discussing natural law to read Charles G. Finney's "Systematic Theology" where he explains how that the moral law as defined by Christ in Matt. 22:37-ff is the "law of nature" or the "law of our nature". Especially read his discussions of the attributes of moral law and particularly "fitness". "Fitness. It must be the law of nature, that is, its precepts must prescribe and require just those actions of the will which are suitable to the nature and relations of moral beings, and nothing more nor less; that is, the intrinsic value of the well-being of God and of the universe being given as the ground, and the nature and relations of moral beings as the condition of the obligation, the reason hereupon necessarily affirms the intrinsic propriety and fitness of choosing this good, and of consecrating the whole being to its promotion. This is what is intended by the law of nature. It is the law or rule of action imposed on us by God, in and by the nature which He has given us." Because Finney developed the philosophical supports for an intelligent theology that could serve as a method for engaging the non-Christian on ehtical ground he was maligned by Princeton prof Charles Hodge and given short shrift by protestant theologians since. But those of us who have actually studied him have found him the most cogent and enlightened of all modern theologians. I am always trying to get anyone discussing natural law to read Charles G. Finney’s “Systematic Theology” where he explains how that the moral law as defined by Christ in Matt. 22:37-ff is the “law of nature” or the “law of our nature”. Especially read his discussions of the attributes of moral law and particularly “fitness”. “Fitness. It must be the law of nature, that is, its precepts must

prescribe and require just those actions of the will which are suitable to

the nature and relations of moral beings, and nothing more nor less;

that is, the intrinsic value of the well-being of God and of the universe

being given as the ground, and the nature and relations of moral

beings as the condition of the obligation, the reason hereupon

necessarily affirms the intrinsic propriety and fitness of choosing this

good, and of consecrating the whole being to its promotion. This is

what is intended by the law of nature. It is the law or rule of action

imposed on us by God, in and by the nature which He has given us.”
Because Finney developed the philosophical supports for an intelligent theology that could serve as a method for engaging the non-Christian on ehtical ground he was maligned by Princeton prof Charles Hodge and given short shrift by protestant theologians since. But those of us who have actually studied him have found him the most cogent and enlightened of all modern theologians.

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