CriticalPoints

Bringing together a variety of perspectives in much-needed conversation, Natural Law: Five Views helps readers to understand the various approaches to "natural law" theory within the Christian and classical intellectual traditions. The story of "natural law", the idea that God has written a law on the human heart so that ethical norms derive from human nature, in twentieth-century Protestant ethics is one of rejection and resurgence. For half a century, luminaries like Karl Barth, Carl F. H. Henry, and Cornelius Van Til cast a shadow over natural law moral reflection because of its putative link to natural theology, autonomous reason, associations with Catholic theology, and ethical witness devoid of special revelation. However, over the past twenty years, Protestant theologians have renewed their interest in the subject, often animated by debates on Christian involvement in the public arena and on matters of life, death, and gender and sexuality. Much of this engagement has happened within Reformed circles and has largely been conducted without reference to Roman Catholic construals of the natural law. Conversely, Catholic developments in natural law thinking have paid little attention to the surge of interest on the Protestant side. As a result, Protestant and Catholic natural proponents, and even those skeptical of the natural law-are not in conversation with one another. The lack of dialog between the various schools of natural law has left a historic tradition within Christan moral thought underdeveloped in contemporary Protestant theology. By bringing together a variety of perspectives in much-needed conversation, this book helps readers to understand the various construals of natural law within the broader strands of Christian and classical traditions and clarifies its unique importance for Christian moral witness in a secular culture. The contributors address the following questions: • What is natural law? • Can moral norms be derived from immanent, creaturely ends? If so, how specific or action-guiding can those norms be? How extensive might these moral norms be? • How does natural law endure despite Christian insistence on the noetic, epistemological effects of sin? • What is the relationship between Christian reflection on natural law and the broader classical tradition's understanding of natural law? • How do Catholic and Protestant construals of natural law differ? • What is the relationship between faith and reason? • What's the relationship between human nature and natural law? • Does "natural law" mean: "secular moral reasons"? Or is "natural law" merely religious belief disguised as public reason? • How does natural law relate to public reason? • Does the affirmation of a "natural law" lead to a natural theology? Or are these distinct? • What is the relationship between natural law and the laws of nature?

Gain Insights on Mark's Christology from Today's Leading Scholars The Gospel of Mark, widely assumed to be the earliest narrative of Jesus's life and the least explicit in terms of Christology, has long served as a worktable for the discovery of Christian origins and developing theologies. The past ten years of scholarship have seen an unprecedented shift toward an early, high Christology, the notion that very early in the history of the Jesus movement his followers worshipped him as God. Other studies have challenged this view, arguing that Mark's story is incomplete, intentionally ambiguous, or presents Jesus in entirely human terms. Christology in Mark's Gospel: Four Views brings together key voices in conversation in order to offer a clear entry point into early Christians' understanding of Jesus's identity: Sandra Huebenthal (Suspended Christology), Larry W. Hurtado (Mark's Presentation of Jesus; with rejoinder by Chris Keith), J. R. Daniel Kirk (Narrative Christology of a Suffering King), and Adam Winn (Jesus as the YHWH of Israel in the Gospel of Mark). Each author offers a robust presentation of their position, followed by lively interaction with the other contributors and one "last-word" rejoinder. The significance of this discussion is contextualized by the general editor Anthony Le Donne's introduction and summarized in the conclusion. The CriticalPoints Series offers rigorous and nuanced engagement between today's best scholars for advancing the scholarship of tomorrow. Like its older sibling, the CounterPoints Series, it provides a forum for comparison and critique of different positions, focusing on critical issues in today's Christian scholarship: in biblical studies, in theology, and in philosophy.