Synopses & Reviews
Fundamentalist forms of religion today claim authority everywhere, including the debates over the politics and constitutional law of liberal democracies. This book examines this general question through its critical evaluation of a recent school of thought: that of the new natural lawyers. The new natural lawyers are the lawyers of the current Vatical hierarchy, polemically concerned to defend its retrograde views on matters of sexuality and gender in terms of arguments that, in fact, notably lack the philosophical rigor of the historical Thomism they claim to honor. The book critiques forms of fundamentalism and offers an original argument both for how they arose and why they are unreasonable in contemporary circumstances.
Review
'Nicholas Bamforth and David A. J. Richards make a full frontal attack on the philosophical consistency, social relevance, and political desirability of new natural law ... will be welcomed ... this text presents challenging philosophical insights as well as informative commentary on the role of doctrinal religion in the construction of seemingly secular law. ... constructive mode ... meticulously argued, well-written, and thoroughly annotated ... provides a detailed map of the philosophical, personal, and political affiliations between Grisez, Finnis, George and, most importantly, it closely traces their arguments to 'illiberal prescriptions' concerning sexuality and gender. ... This is the gap in the philosophical investigation of new natural law that the text wishes to fill.' Politics and Religion
Synopsis
This book examines the patriarchal nature of fundamental Christianity and offers a critique of the new natural lawyers' school of thought.
Synopsis
By looking at Thomas Aquinas' school of thought and comparing it to the new natural lawyers, this book offers a glimpse at the disconnect. Fundamentalist forms of religion claim authority everywhere, even in the secular United States. This book examines the new natural lawyers' flawed way of viewing hierarchy and offer a critique of the forms of fundamentalism and how they arose . The book also shows that alternative forms of Christianity are available that are free from such defects.
Table of Contents
1. New natural law in context; 2. The architecture and reach of new natural law; 3. Criteria for evaluating new natural law; 4. Internal consistency: is new natural law secular?; 5. Internal consistency: is new natural law Thomistic?; 6. Substantive appeal: what's wrong with homophobia and sexism?; 7. Substantive appeal: new natural law, sexism, and homophobia; 8. Substantive appeal: moral absolutes and the inconsistent fundamentalism of new natural law; 9. New natural law and patriarchal religion; 10. Conclusions: Christian alternatives to new natural law.