Abstract
Genesis 22 is of interest for natural law doctrine because God’s command that Abraham sacrifice his son Isaac appears to be a divine violation of natural law. Various thinkers, including Immanuel Kant and John Thiel, have recognized the difficulty here. This essay focuses in particular on the approaches to this problem offered by Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus. For Scotus, Genesis 22 and similar biblical texts show that the Decalogue is changeable as regards the human-to-human laws. On this view, only the human-to-God laws are unchangeable. By detaching the human-to-human laws from the human-to-God laws, however, this position establishes the conditions for the autonomy of the human-to-human laws and undermines their status as real natural law. Thomas Aquinas’s approach is preferable: he argues that the natural law is unchangeable, but that as the lawgiver, God can accomplish its ends directly. This essay shows how developments in natural law doctrine are related to the interpretation of Scripture.
This essay previously appeared as “God and Natural Law: Reflections on Genesis 22” Modern Theology 24 (2008): 151–77
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Notes
- 1.
For further theological reflection on the Aqedah, see Levering (2005), chapter 1.
- 2.
- 3.
Ibid.
- 4.
Kant (1960), 174.
- 5.
Ibid., 175.
- 6.
Ibid.
- 7.
I discuss this question in detail in Sacrifice and Community, chapter 2.
- 8.
Thiel (2002), 155.
- 9.
Ibid.
- 10.
Ibid., 156.
- 11.
Ibid.
- 12.
I–II, q. 94, a. 4, ad 1.
- 13.
Ibid.
- 14.
I-II, q. 94, a. 5, sed contra.
- 15.
I-II, q. 94, a. 5, obj. 2.
- 16.
See I, q. 21, a. 1.
- 17.
I–II, q. 94, a. 4.
- 18.
I–II, q. 93, a. 5.
- 19.
I–II, q. 93, a. 5, ad 1.
- 20.
I–II, q. 93, a. 6.
- 21.
I–II, q. 91, a. 3, ad 2.
- 22.
I–II, q. 91, a. 2.
- 23.
Ibid.
- 24.
See I–II, q. 94, a. 2.
- 25.
I–II, q. 92, a. 1.
- 26.
I–II, q. 94, a. 5, ad 2.
- 27.
Ibid.
- 28.
Scotus (1997), 200–201, from Scotus, Ordinatio III, suppl., dist. 37.
- 29.
Ibid., 200.
- 30.
Ibid., 201.
- 31.
Ibid., 200.
- 32.
Ibid., 202.
- 33.
Ibid., 203.
- 34.
Ibid.
- 35.
Ibid., 202.
- 36.
Ibid.
- 37.
Ibid.
- 38.
See ibid., 204.
- 39.
Ibid., 205.
- 40.
Ibid.
- 41.
Ibid., 206.
- 42.
Ibid.
- 43.
Ibid.
- 44.
Ibid.
- 45.
Ibid.
- 46.
Ibid., 201.
- 47.
Ibid., 199.
- 48.
Ibid., 207.
- 49.
Ibid.
- 50.
Ibid.
- 51.
Ibid., 206.
- 52.
Ibid.
- 53.
I–II, q. 94, a. 5, ad 2.
- 54.
Cf. Duns Scotus (1997), 199.
- 55.
Kant (1960), 175.
References
Duns Scotus. 1997. On the will and morality. Select. and Trans. Allan B. Wolter, O.F.M., ed. William A. Frank. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press.
Kant, I. 1960. Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone. Trans. Theodore M. Greene and Hoyt H. Hudson. New York: Harper & Row (first published 1794).
Kant, I. 1979. The conflict of the faculties. New York: Abaris. first published 1798.
Levering, M. 2005. Sacrifice and community: Jewish offering and Christian Eucharist. Oxford: Blackwell.
Moberly, R.W.L. 2000. The Bible, theology, and faith: A study of Abraham and Jesus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Thiel, J.E. 2002. God, evil, and innocent suffering: A theological reflection. New York: Crossroad.
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Levering, M. (2013). God and Natural Law: Reflections on Genesis 22. In: Contreras, F. (eds) The Threads of Natural Law. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 22. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5656-4_5
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