Criminal Law and Religion in Post-Reformation Scotland (original) (raw)
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"Biblical Law as the source of morality in Calvin", History of Political Thought 32 (2011), pp. 1-19
In this article, I discuss the Protestant contribution to the modern concept of autonomy on the basis of an analysis of John Calvin's moral theology. I show that Calvin affirms our incapacity to know and want what is morally good, as expressed by natural law. Such incapacity is compensated for by the biblical mandates that, according to Calvin, should be incorporated into the positive legislation of Christian republics. In view of all this, I conclude that Calvin is far from the Kantian idea of autonomy which defines our Modernity. I Introduction Many consider the Reformation to be the seed from which the modern idea of autonomy developed, with the theological debate on the role of divine will regarding what the good or justice should be for us, clearing the way for this idea. However, the notion of moral autonomy is a well-known obstacle for the Christian tradition: it denies the effects of divine action on human decisions. As Jerome Schneewind argues in his monumental work on the invention of the concept, God and his Law had to preside over the edifice of morality for centuries, before morality could be described as Christian. Morality was interpreted as obedience owed to God. 3 This article intends, first, to analyse Calvin's writings in order to find out if his thinking integrates natural law and some degree of moral autonomy. In the second place, we must elucidate how this natural legislation is articulated with biblical commands and what the consequences are for positive law. In order to do this, we must first analyse the extent to which Calvin believes we are capable of recognizing the good, whether we can know it on our own (Section II). We shall see that he questions this capacity and, thus, the conception of natural law becomes eminently negative: our knowledge of natural law is just enough for our actions to be inexcusable to God, but neither our reason nor our will make it possible to fulfil this natural law. For Christians, faith and the scripture are necessary. Only for the non-believer does natural law fulfil its function (Section III). The next step will be to analyse the foundation of a Christian ethics based, according to Calvin, on the moral law of scripture
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In this paper, I argue that John Calvin's problematic grant of magisterial authority to enforce proper religious worship contradicts much of his own political theology and in fact depends upon an ambiguity in his natural law theory. I demonstrate this ambiguity by examining the differing claims in the Institutes regarding which of the tables of the Decalogue are accessible through natural law reasoning. I also consider the significance of this ambiguity for Calvin's political theology. I then suggest a partial retrieval of Calvin's political theology which is both more compelling to many contemporary Christians and in a better alignment with much of Calvin's own political theory.
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For much of the 20th century, natural law discourse has centred upon the primacy of human reason. Consequently, there has been scepticism towards natural law in much modern Protestant thought because of its critique of reason in post Lapsarian, sinful humanity. This reluctance to engage with natural law, however, is increasingly incongruous in the contemporary global world, in which thinkers from various cultures are attempting to develop universal understandings of ethical principles. Taking this situation as its starting point, this article reassesses the historical relationship between natural law and Protestantism. We argue that historically, there was a tradition of Protestant thought that managed to reconcile its belief in the corruption of human reason, with natural law. Drawing upon this tradition, the article suggests some ways that scholars might tackle the problem of unaided human reason and, in doing so, make fruitful contributions to the contemporary debate. We then argue more broadly for the importance of the relationship between law and religion, and suggest that natural law can facilitate this relationship by serving as a means of articulating the legitimacy and moral force of the law in a global world.
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Philippiniana Sacra
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