An International Journal for Pastors and Students of Theological and Religious Studies
An International Journal for Pastors and Students of Theological and Religious Studies
Matthew Levering. Biblical Natural Law: A Theocentric and Teleological Approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. vi + 260 pp. £55.00/$110.00.
Matthew Levering is a theologian who is convinced that the best way forward in theology often requires taking a few steps back. Sensing that the current situation surrounding moral theology is one in which Holy Scripture and the ‘book of nature’ have been leveraged from a happy state of cooperation, Levering’s ‘study proposes that the full scope of natural law doctrine is learned best by means of a dialogue between biblical exegesis, theology and philosophy, where each enriches the other’ (p. 1).
Since natural law rests on the assumption that God has ‘imprinted’ upon each individual traces of his moral law, a law which can, therefore, be known experientially, philosophers have been able to develop a doctrine of natural law that does not appeal immediately (or at all) to Holy Scripture. The author addresses the problem which he sees attending contemporary discussions of natural law, that is, the exclusion of Scripture’s necessary role in such discussions. Yet according to Levering, ‘Natural law doctrine does not become significantly more persuasive or effective once pluralism dictates the exclusion of biblical revelation’ (p. 18). In fact, once the doctrines of creation and providence become dislodged from an account of natural law, the remainder is ‘an anthropocentric discourse of individual human rights grounded upon a false sense of human autonomy’ (p. 20). With this taken into account, Levering believes the best way forward is through an articulation of natural law, ‘not as a rationalistic rulebook’ (p. 21), but as the eternal law of God imprinted in the human person, who participates rationally in God’s ordering of humans to their fulfilment.
Chapter one presents a discussion on biblical ethics which revolves around this question: ‘Does natural law belong to biblically grounded reflection on the moral life, or is it a Greek and Roman philosophical category that remains inadequate for describing biblical realities?’ (p. 49). Levering brings to the discussion the perspectives of Richard Hays and Allen Verhey as representatives of studies in New Testament ethics and John Barton and David Novak as representatives of Old Testament ethics. Levering’s broad evaluation suggests that the four examples indicate that there exists sufficient evidence for the biblical warrants for natural law while also providing ‘interpretive value’ of moral law reflection. To this, Levering provides four claims which, at a minimal level, have to be made when speaking about a natural law that best does justice to the realities taught in Scripture.
Chapter two maps the ways in which the modern understanding of natural law has ended up being articulated anthropocentrically. By giving attention to the development of natural-law discourse within the mainstream philosophies of the past few centuries, Levering points out the moves made which slowly erased the biblical moorings of natural law doctrine. Before he surveys the thought of some prominent philosophers between Descartes and Nietzsche, Levering gives a brief outline of the doctrine according to Cicero and Augustine. What marks Cicero and Augustine apart from the modern philosophers is the stress the former place on the connection between happiness and moral goodness. Both recognize God’s providence in relation to natural law. As Levering explains, ‘moral goodness is a happiness that is structured upon, rather than alien to or in tension with, our desires for self-preservation, for procreation and offspring, for life in society, and for truth’ (p. 82). What follows, according to the modern philosophers, is an account stripped of any trace of God’s structuring of life toward human happiness. Such approaches lack the kind of interpersonal communion between Creator and creature, which a teleological approach adverts.
In the final two chapters, Levering offers his constructive proposal. As with much of Levering’s other projects, Thomas Aquinas is the figure who can best lead us forward. Aquinas indicates a way of understanding natural law that is at once richly informed by biblical exegesis while also articulated theologically and philosophically. Believing that humans are created for fellowship with God and thus directed towards a Trinitarian love of self-giving (what Levering calls ecstasis), natural law, therefore, ‘carries us outside ourselves’ (p. 221), to be open to another person. In contrast to Nietzsche then, human fulfilment is found in going outside oneself rather than in self-seeking actions. The gains of such an approach illustrate an ethical framework that prefers a providential ordering to one that begins with human beings as the source and origin of law. The consequences of an alternative approach amount to a political order structured according to arbitrary convention and power that promote individual rights, an ordering that makes it easy to approve the ‘practices of death such as euthanasia and abortion’ (p. 233). Taking seriously the natural law as Levering explains it, one finds in the maxim ‘God’s love orders all’ hope, dignity, and fulfilment as achieved through imitation of the divine ecstasis.
Matthew Levering brings his customary high level of research and insight to an entangled and prickly topic. The range of resources drawn in to bolster his case is typically broad, though the student of the Reformation might feel a little disappointed that the voice coming from this camp is much muted in the argument. However, in the end what Biblical Natural Law does secure is a clearly thought-out consideration of an important, practical subject that will serve its readers well.
Mark McDowell King’s College Aberdeen, Scotland, UK