Comments on: Natural Law is Not New

By: Joshua Dean

Joshua Dean — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:40:36 +0000

Well put, Monsignor.

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

Msgr. Charles Pope — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:49:45 +0000

Well, as long as you both use words like careful. It is not wise to simply exclude natural Law since scripture itself attests to its validity as does the Tradition of the Church. So as long long as you both use the word careful, I’m on board but we ought not simply refer to Natural Law as the “doctrines of men”.

By: Bender

Bender — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:18:04 +0000

You are right Jen. We should be very careful in using the traditions of mere doctrines of men.
Instead, we should be following the Tradition of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus promised to give (John 14:16-17, 26; 16:13-14; 17:17-19) and has given to the Church.

By: jen b

jen b — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:48:38 +0000

Our Lord cautions us against using tradition and the doctrines of men to the detriment of His commandments in the gospel of Mark 7.7 so we must be careful.

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

Msgr. Charles Pope — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:29:03 +0000

I generally agree with wha tyou say here. I think we have to be careful to define what we mean by natural law. Just as we use the New Testament to interpret the Old Testament, so we should also use it to understand natural law. I have also expressed concerns to Church leaders in the past that sometimes our official positions rely too much on natural law. This is especially true when the bishops and diocese communicate to the faithful regarding issues current today. I think that when the Catholic faithful are adressed internally, the communication should be rich in scripture. Often they are not. I understand when writing to a governor or legislature, that the bishops will use more natural law and arguments from reason. But as for our internal teachings, we should be more scriptural than we currently are. Otherwise, as you point out, we devlove into a kind of secular humanism that is unbecoming and can also be inauthentic to the gospel. We need both but scripture and sacred Tradition should strongly influence our understanding of natural law.

By: Joshua Dean

Joshua Dean — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:10:11 +0000

I appreciate this article. Sometimes, however, Catholics enter the ethical conversations of our day using a version of natural law which is separate from the proclamation of the gospel. This problem arises in a pluralist society because we want to find “common ground” or work for the “common good”, terms which evoke Catholic social teaching but really miss the point of what it is about. The notion of natural law can never be divorced from its ultimate root, the incarnation of Christ. So anytime folks make natural law arguments which are in tension with and often opposed to the central ethical teachings of the New Testament and the Church of the apostolic age, I believe that they are fundamentally confused as to what exactly natural law is and why it really matters. This comes out most clearly in the ambiguities surrounding just war theory and its application. It seems that the USCCB, in its 1983 letter “The Challenge of Peace: God’s Promise and Our Response”, attempts to deal with this tension, but it still remains a problem that some of the fundamental assumptions of just war theory, which are based on natural law, simply are not found in either the New Testament or the early Church (i.e., the supposed right of a nation-state to defend itself). Hence I believe it is up to the Bishops to more clearly work out the relationship between reason and revelation, between natural law and the gospel. If the two are separated, then natural law becomes a vacuous humanism akin to vague modern notions of “human rights” which have nothing at all to do with humans.

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

Msgr. Charles Pope — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:36:43 +0000

Thanks for this very helpful addition.

By: CastingCrown

CastingCrown — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:16:39 +0000

St. Justin arrived at Christianity via Greek Philosophy (Plato). Even after he converted he continued to wear the Philosopher’s garb because he saw himself still as a philosopher – it’s just that he had found the source of all true philosophy – Christ. He has a great quote where he says that both kinds of wisdom (natural and supernatural) belong to Christianity because Christ is the source of both.

St. Clement (originally from Athens) who became the head of the catechetical school in Alexandria wrote beautifully, describing philosophy as the handmaiden of theology. He suggested that the rise of Greek Philosophy in the years prior to Christ wasn’t without God’s providence, preparing that part of the world for the Gospel in a way analogous to the Prophets in Israel (although, of course, to a lesser degree). It’s interesting to note that history confirms this since this was the area in which Christianity first took deep root.