01 May 2017
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
Richard Hooker famously (?) said: "A gross error it is, to think that regal power ought to serve for the good of the body, and not of the soul; for men’s temporal peace, and not for their eternal safety: as if God had ordained kings for no other end and purpose but only to fat up men like hogs, and to see that...
Read more → 30 Jan 2017
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
Augustine was not a legal positivist, which is to say, he knew that human laws and customs could not be ultimate. If they are out of accord with a higher law (viz. natural law or divine law), they are not truly binding because not truly just. The opposite of this position, of course, is the position...
Read more → 23 Nov 2016
Posted by Andrew Fulford 
Dr. Feser has been writing on the doctrine of hell and punishment these days. I wanted to highlight some very useful arguments he makes connecting punishment to natural law. He says in his recent post, "Does God damn you?": Now, given what has been said, happiness – which is, again, the realization...
Read more → 22 Nov 2016
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
It is well known that the Magisterial Reformers treated the Decalogue as a summary of the moral law, that is, as teaching the precepts of the law of nature. In that way, "divine law"--the moral law as revealed--was to serve as a standard for public life in concord with natural law, since the two are the same...
Read more → 15 Sep 2016
Posted by Alastair Roberts 
Since our founding, TCI has been committed to affirming the natural family and varieties of "household economics" as essential components to any sort of Christian political vision. Given the confusions of our day, this has required us to interact with both the push for modern egalitarianism and the reactionary...
Read more → 30 Aug 2016
Posted by Simon Kennedy 
Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634) was an eminent English jurist. The excerpt below comes from a famous report of Calvin's Case (1608). Robert Calvin was a Scottish born freeholder who inherited land in England. His right to inherit was challenged on the grounds that he was not a natural born Englishman, but a Scot. The...
Read more → 04 Aug 2016
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
I was going to let this pass, but...who am I kidding, there was never any chance of that. I'm not going to comment on all of it; just some of the Augustine bits. And I'm going to do it in the style of a HOTT TAKE, because it's Thursday and I need something to spice up my life. Please bear in mind that...
Read more → 05 Apr 2016
Posted by Andrew Fulford 
Back when I reviewed Edward Feser's Scholastic Metaphysics, I noted that most the disagreements between Catholics and Protestants during the Reformation and in the scholastic period afterward were focused on matters of "grace", largely connected with what God has done in history. This would be distinct...
Read more → 12 Mar 2016
Posted by Eric Parker 
Christians often talk about the transforming power of the Gospel of Christ, but for many who do not completely grasp the basic principles of human nature, the nature of this transformation may seem a complete mystery. And, when the inner struggles of faith are met with the ignorance of these basic principles...
Read more → 25 Feb 2016
Posted by Eric Parker 
Many of John Calvin's references to Aristotelian cosmology occur during his later years, representing his mature theology. Christopher Kaiser has shown that Calvin viewed the universe through the lens of Aristotelian natural philosophy. He accepted such ideas as the concept of natural place (the earth...
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