Rediscovering the Natural Law in Reformed Theological Ethics
Hearty congratulations to Acton’s own Stephen J. Grabill, whose latest book Rediscovering the Natural Law in Reformed Theological Ethics has been published by Eerdmans.Grabill makes a case for reintegrating Reformed Protestant theology with natural law. He appeals to Reformation and post-Reformation era theologians such as John Calvin, Peter Martyr Vermigli, Johannes Althusius, and Francis Turretin, who carried over and refined the traditional understanding of this key doctrine. Grabill’s book calls Christian ethicists, theologians, and laypersons to take another look at this vital element in the history of Christian ethical thought.
Rediscovering the Natural Law in Reformed Theological Ethics is available for purchase from the Acton Book Shoppe at just about the lowest price out there. Excerpts from some reviews are posted after the break and more details are in the press release here.
J. Budziszewski — University of Texas
Stephen Grabill’s erudite book will be an indispensable steersman to anyone interested in the important story of natural law in Protestant theology — what the Reformers thought of it, why it disappeared, and what chance there may be of reviving it.
Paul Helm — Regent College
The scope and depth of Grabill’s study are impressive. His book swells the rising tide of scholarly interest in the positive role played by ‘the natural’ in the formative years of Reformed ethics and theology, and it hints at a new agenda. Most welcome.
Russell Hittinger — University of Tulsa
In defense of doctrinal orthodoxy, Protestant theologians like Karl Barth cast the natural law tradition into the darkness of the unregenerate works of man. Neither corrected nor fulfilled by Christian wisdom, natural law floats free of the works of God. In this important and penetrating study, Stephen Grabill shows that the Reformed wing of the magisterial Reformation set out to modify but not to reject totally the older position common to theologians, jurists, and philosophers — namely, that natural law is an expression of divine providence. He shows that the Barthian critique not only collapses the tensions and ignores the nuances received from the Reformers, but also dissevers continuities between Protestantism and the Catholic via antiqua. As evangelical Christians become more politically self-conscious and ever more conversant with Catholics, it is all the more necessary to grapple with the issues explored by Grabill.
J. P. Moreland — Talbot School of Theology, Biola University
In the contemporary church and broader culture, there is much ignorance of and great confusion about the reality, nature, and importance of natural moral law. Moreover, it is widely believed that the natural-moral-law tradition is simply unavailable to those of a Reformed persuasion. Stephen Grabill clearly demonstrates that nothing could be further from the truth. With great skill and scholarly patience, Grabill painstakingly demonstrates that natural revelation, theology, and moral law are, indeed, important aspects of Christian teaching and that nothing central to Reformed Christianity requires abandoning this triad. For all those interested in the interface of Christian doctrine, politics, and moral reasoning, this is must reading. I highly recommend it.
Comments
#1 2006-10-22 17:08 (Reply)
Religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause and the nature of the universe, especially when considereed as the creation of a superhuman agency.
Surely you are aware that your state of being is boundless. You can’t believe that God resides in a place called Heaven. Thomas Jefferson, who authored the Declaration of Independence belived in God on the evidence of reason and nature.
A set of beliefs beyond reason and nature leaves the religion questionable, if you believe in the sanctity of the individual’s immaterial essence.
You are invited to my “Blog.” www.geocieties.com/inlink98
#2 2007-02-23 12:46 (Reply)
Stephen Grabill’s ‘Discovering Natural law............’was redundant even before it was published. For the end of the ‘natural law’ sexual-ethical paradigm has already taken place by a new interpretation of the moral teachings of Christ, spreading on the web. I quote:
“Using a synthesis of scriptural material from the Old and New Testaments, the Apocrypha , The Dead Sea Scrolls,The Nag Hammadi Library, and some of the worlds great poetry, it describes and teaches a single moral LAW, a single moral principle and offers its own proof; one in which the reality of God responds to an act of perfect faith with a direct, individual intervention into the natural world; making a correction to human nature by a change in natural law, altering biology, consciousness and human ethical perception”.
Using ‘natural law’ as the starting point for ethics and morality is now a dead end! Check these links:
http://www.energon.uklinux.net
http://thefinalfreedoms.bulldoghome.com
http://www.dunwanderinpress.org