Travis McMaken of
DET has written a fine
review of the new book by Stephen J. Grabill,
Rediscovering the Natural Law in Reformed Theological Ethics (Emory University Studies in Law and Religion; Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006). The book seeks to defend a Reformed conception of natural law in the wake of its eclipse in the twentieth century due largely to the Barth-Brunner debate. Grabill thus looks behind Barth in order to examine what the Reformed tradition has to offer toward the development of a natural theology on Reformed theological soil. McMaken’s review is a solid overview of the book which criticizes Grabill for pushing Barth aside much too quickly.
Travis McMaken of DET has written a fine review of the new book by Stephen J. Grabill, Rediscovering the Natural Law in Reformed Theological Ethics (Emory University Studies in Law and Religion; Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006). The book seeks to defend a Reformed conception of natural law in the wake of its eclipse in the twentieth century due largely to the Barth-Brunner debate. Grabill thus looks behind Barth in order to examine what the Reformed tradition has to offer toward the development of a natural theology on Reformed theological soil. McMaken’s review is a solid overview of the book which criticizes Grabill for pushing Barth aside much too quickly.
Comments
Do you have a different distinction in mind? How do you understand the two terms?
I'm not trying to start a serious conversation here--but I thought it fair to chime in because you've once again posted a rather dour review of a book which you didn't read in the fist place.
Also, I think Grabill's book is an evocative step in ecumenical dialogue because it rehabilitates the possibility for conversation with Catholic social thought. I would have thought that a good thing, especially given your stance on torture, politics, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc.
Are you accusing me of not reading the book? It is I who reviewed it; David is simply working from my review.
Furthermore, discussions of natural law are intimately related to those of general / natural revelation, and therefore fall under the aegis of natural theology.
Finally, it is great to have good conversations about theology with the Roman Catholics, and to learn from their tradition and from the common Great Tradition, but I am not personally convinced that their social ethics move us forward at all. Grabill, of course, thinks there is value to this.