WHAT COULD CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY OFFER TO THE DISCIPLINES OF THE LAW?

ABSTRACTJohn Milbank's critique of the secular as a violent distortion of Christian theology is well established. Less clear is how Milbank's framework might bear upon secular liberalism as it specifically relates to liberal ideas of religious freedom and public or secular reasons in political contexts. This is especially worthy of investigation since “religious freedom” is part of the liberal framework Milbank so stridently critiques. This article attempts to reconcile Milbank's theological critique of secular liberalism with the idea of religious freedom by applying Milbank's theology and the law of love to liberal notions of public discourse for the purpose of redeeming and transforming that discourse. This redeemed “liberalism” provides a framework for persuasion to the Good by recognizing that all public positions (including secularism) are ultimately faith positions, and advocates a discourse governed by the law of love to produce genuine religious freedom that paradoxically transcends and fulfils the liberal ideals that secular liberalism proclaims but can never attain.

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Ministers of the Law: A Natural Law Theory of Legal Authority. By JeanPorter. Pp. xvi, 368. Emory University Studies in Law and Religion, Grand Rapids, MI/Cambridge, UK, Eerdmans, 2010, £21.00.

The Heythrop Journal ◽

10.1111/heyj.12249_35 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 56 (3) ◽

pp. 491-493

Author(s):

Paul Groarke

Keyword(s):

Natural Law ◽

Legal Authority ◽

University Studies ◽

Emory University ◽

Grand Rapids ◽

Natural Law Theory ◽

The Law

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The Law of Nature in Philo and Cicero

Harvard Theological Review ◽

10.1017/s0017816000025566 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 71 (1-2) ◽

pp. 35-59 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Richard A. Horsley

Keyword(s):

Political Theory ◽

Natural Law ◽

Christian Theology ◽

Roman Law ◽

Law Of Nature ◽

The Law ◽

Medieval Political Theory

“Christian Natural Law is the acceptance and reinterpretation according to Christian and ecclesiastical principles of Stoic Natural Law. …” Thus runs Troeltsch's classic and influential formulation of the view that Stoicism forms the “preparation of the gospel” with regard to the law of nature in Christian theology and ethics. Historians of political theory similarly assume that it was the Stoic doctrine of natural law that decisively influenced both the rationalization and universalization of Roman law and medieval political theory.

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The Way(s) of Salvation

Comparing Faithfully ◽

10.5422/fordham/9780823274666.003.0014 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Joshua Ralston

Keyword(s):

Common Good ◽

Christian Theology ◽

John Calvin ◽

Human Flourishing ◽

The Common Good ◽

The Common ◽

Convergence And Divergence ◽

The Law ◽

The Way

Joshua Ralston observes that the Christian tendency to place law in an oppositional relationship to love, grace, and/or the gospel has had unfortunate byproducts. It denigrates Judaism and Islam and misconstrues their conceptions of the Compassionate One who gives Torah and/or shari‘a for the sake of human flourishing. Thinking beyond such divisions, this essay explores points of convergence and divergence in the thinking of the Protestant reformer John Calvin and the Islamic jurist, mystic, and reformer al-Ghazali. Al-Ghazali’s understanding of shari‘a as a pathway to the common good that is willed by the Compassionate and Merciful One resonates with Calvin’s third use of the law. Together, these revise the adversarial renderings of law in Calvin’s first and second uses. Christian theology might therefore embrace an understanding of gospel and law—or, better, the way or shari’a of God—that focuses on the path to flourishing.

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The Coherence of Paul's View of the Law: The Evidence of First Corinthians

New Testament Studies ◽

10.1017/s0028688500019883 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 38 (2) ◽

pp. 235-253

Author(s):

Frank Thielman

Keyword(s):

Christian Theology ◽

The Subject ◽

The Law

Students of Paul's theology have directed much attention in recent years to the coherence of Paul's view of the law. Fascination with the subject is understandable since, at least for some, nothing less than the value of Paul's thinking for Christian theology is at stake in the debate.1 Most of the debate's energy has naturally focused not upon First Corinthians but upon the three epistles in which Paul speaks most fervently and frequently about the law: Gal-atians, Romans, and Philippians.2 Paul does, after all, use the word νόμος only eight times3 in First Corinthians whereas in Galatians, Romans, and Philippians, he uses it over a hundred times. In these three letters, moreover, the issue of the law is front and centre, for Paul is arguing energetically in all three against opponents who are trying to impose the law upon his Gentile converts. In First Corinthians, however, even if Cephas at one time passed through the community, there is nearly nothing to indicate that Judaizing had become a problem.4

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Ethical Challenges: Less About Moral Wrongdoing and More About Communication Breakdown

Perspectives on Gerontology ◽

10.1044/gero20.3.72 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 20 (3) ◽

pp. 72-84 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Paula Leslie ◽

Mary Casper

Keyword(s):

Ethical Challenges ◽

Speech Language Pathology ◽

Thickened Liquids ◽

Communication Breakdown ◽

Professional Duty ◽

Language Pathology ◽

The Law ◽

Personal Case

“My patient refuses thickened liquids, should I discharge them from my caseload?” A version of this question appears at least weekly on the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's Community pages. People talk of respecting the patient's right to be non-compliant with speech-language pathology recommendations. We challenge use of the word “respect” and calling a patient “non-compliant” in the same sentence: does use of the latter term preclude the former? In this article we will share our reflections on why we are interested in these so called “ethical challenges” from a personal case level to what our professional duty requires of us. Our proposal is that the problems that we encounter are less to do with ethical or moral puzzles and usually due to inadequate communication. We will outline resources that clinicians may use to support their work from what seems to be a straightforward case to those that are mired in complexity. And we will tackle fears and facts regarding litigation and the law.

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