How to Talk to Protestants about Natural Law

Early modern Protestants traditionally not only affirmed natural law, but wrote entire treatises defending and expounding it. So what happened to get us to the point where many (perhaps even most) Protestants are suspicious of natural law or outright reject it, and where many Protestants think that their core convictions somehow exclude natural law or undermine it? This lecture will outline how we got to this point and what strategies we might use to talk to Protestants about the importance of natural law for their tradition.

Recommended Readings

Niels Hemmingsen. On the Law of Nature: A Demonstrative Method [1562]. Translated and edited by E. J. Hutchinson. Grand Rapids, MI: CLP Academic, 2018.

Girolamo Zanchi. On the Law in General [1617]. Translated by Jeffrey J. Veenstra. Grand Rapids, MI: CLP Academic, 2012.