Natural and Divine Law : Reclaiming the Tradition for Christian Ethics

by Porter, Jean

• ISBN13: 9780802846976
• ISBN10: 0802846971
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-02-01
• Publisher: Lightning Source Inc

Summary

Though the concept of natural law took center stage during the Middle Ages, the theological aspects of this august intellectual tradition have been largely forgotten by the modern church. In this book ethicist Jean Porter shows the continuing significance of the natural law tradition for Christian ethics. Based on a careful analysis of natural law as it emerged in the medieval period, Porter's work explores several important scholastic theologians and canonists whose writings are not only worthy of study in their own right but also make important contributions to moral reflection today.

Author Biography

Jean Porter is professor of Christian ethics and moral theology at the University of Notre Dame

Table of Contents

Preface	9	(11)
Foreword	11	(4)
Introduction	15	(10)
Framing the Question	25	(38)
Recent work on the natural law	29	(5)
The social context: The consolidation of European society	34	(7)
The intellectual context: Scholasticism	41	(7)
The scholastic concept of the natural law	48	(15)
Nature and Reason	63	(58)
The scholastic concept of the natural law: Sources and context	66	(10)
The starting point: Nature and convention	76	(9)
Nature and reason	85	(13)
Medieval naturalism and its implications today	98	(23)
Scripture and the Natural Law	121	(66)
Scripture and the natural law: Theological antecedents	124	(5)
Natural law and Scripture in scholastic thought	129	(17)
Natural law and moral norms	146	(10)
The natural law as law	156	(8)
The theological significance of the natural law	164	(23)
Marriage and Sexual Ethics	187	(58)
Sexuality in the scholastic concept of the natural law	190	(9)
Marriage in scholastic thought	199	(7)
Marriage, women and society: Legal and moral views	206	(6)
Implications for contemporary Christian ethics	212	(12)
Some specific issues	224	(21)
Social Ethics	245	(58)
From natural inclination to social practice	247	(12)
The ideal of equality and it social expressions	259	(9)
From natural law to natural rights	268	(9)
Two hard cases: Servitude and social persecution	277	(6)
Towards a theology of social life	283	(20)
Conclusion: The Continuing Relevance of the Natural Law	303	(16)
Bibliography	319	(14)
Index	333