Comments on: Protestants and Natural Law, Part I

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 15:54:16 +0000

Just a note that Tolkien was Catholic, so the Natural Law underpinnings of LOTR would not apply in this argument.

By: Michael JR Jose

Michael JR Jose — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 10:00:01 +0000

Whilst entirely welcome and helpful, I think this does somewhat underplay the NatLaw tradition in Anglicanism. Bishop Richard Hooker is the most famous English prose writer of the sixteenth century (Shakepeare got the drama prize), and his ‘Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity’ are still published and studied today in political, legal, theological, and historical contexts. C.S. Lewis wrote on NL so often that it would be wearisome to quote them all, but his essay ‘The Abolition of Man’ is a hard but rewarding read and 100% NL. He parallels ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Hindu, Greek, Roman, Confucian, Anglo-Saxon, and Old/New Testament writings in moral teaching. It is so concise as to be rarified in places, but it rewards multiple readings. In fiction, Tolkien’s LOTR is an fantasy and fugue in NatLaw, properly understood. Ho hum, back to work.

By: Clare Krishan

Clare Krishan — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 23:33:58 +0000

Ditto – I admire the work Acton is doing.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 23:13:11 +0000

Thank you very much for doing this series. It is a subject I am very interested in learning about. I just ordered the VanDrunen book listed in the newsletter, so hopefully through that and this blog I will get a good introduction to the subject.