What's Divine about Divine Law?

What's Divine about Divine Law? PDF Author: Christine Hayes
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691176256
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 430

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Book Description
How ancient thinkers grappled with competing conceptions of divine law In the thousand years before the rise of Islam, two radically diverse conceptions of what it means to say that a law is divine confronted one another with a force that reverberates to the present. What's Divine about Divine Law? untangles the classical and biblical roots of the Western idea of divine law and shows how early adherents to biblical tradition—Hellenistic Jewish writers such as Philo, the community at Qumran, Paul, and the talmudic rabbis—struggled to make sense of this conflicting legacy. Christine Hayes shows that for the ancient Greeks, divine law was divine by virtue of its inherent qualities of intrinsic rationality, truth, universality, and immutability, while for the biblical authors, divine law was divine because it was grounded in revelation with no presumption of rationality, conformity to truth, universality, or immutability. Hayes describes the collision of these opposing conceptions in the Hellenistic period, and details competing attempts to resolve the resulting cognitive dissonance. She shows how Second Temple and Hellenistic Jewish writers, from the author of 1 Enoch to Philo of Alexandria, were engaged in a common project of bridging the gulf between classical and biblical notions of divine law, while Paul, in his letters to the early Christian church, sought to widen it. Hayes then delves into the literature of classical rabbinic Judaism to reveal how the talmudic rabbis took a third and scandalous path, insisting on a construction of divine law intentionally at odds with the Greco-Roman and Pauline conceptions that would come to dominate the Christianized West. A stunning achievement in intellectual history, What's Divine about Divine Law? sheds critical light on an ancient debate that would shape foundational Western thought, and that continues to inform contemporary views about the nature and purpose of law and the nature and authority of Scripture.

What's Divine about Divine Law?

What's Divine about Divine Law? PDF Author: Christine Hayes
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691176256
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 430

Get Book Here

Book Description
How ancient thinkers grappled with competing conceptions of divine law In the thousand years before the rise of Islam, two radically diverse conceptions of what it means to say that a law is divine confronted one another with a force that reverberates to the present. What's Divine about Divine Law? untangles the classical and biblical roots of the Western idea of divine law and shows how early adherents to biblical tradition—Hellenistic Jewish writers such as Philo, the community at Qumran, Paul, and the talmudic rabbis—struggled to make sense of this conflicting legacy. Christine Hayes shows that for the ancient Greeks, divine law was divine by virtue of its inherent qualities of intrinsic rationality, truth, universality, and immutability, while for the biblical authors, divine law was divine because it was grounded in revelation with no presumption of rationality, conformity to truth, universality, or immutability. Hayes describes the collision of these opposing conceptions in the Hellenistic period, and details competing attempts to resolve the resulting cognitive dissonance. She shows how Second Temple and Hellenistic Jewish writers, from the author of 1 Enoch to Philo of Alexandria, were engaged in a common project of bridging the gulf between classical and biblical notions of divine law, while Paul, in his letters to the early Christian church, sought to widen it. Hayes then delves into the literature of classical rabbinic Judaism to reveal how the talmudic rabbis took a third and scandalous path, insisting on a construction of divine law intentionally at odds with the Greco-Roman and Pauline conceptions that would come to dominate the Christianized West. A stunning achievement in intellectual history, What's Divine about Divine Law? sheds critical light on an ancient debate that would shape foundational Western thought, and that continues to inform contemporary views about the nature and purpose of law and the nature and authority of Scripture.

An Essay on Divine Authority

An Essay on Divine Authority PDF Author: Mark C. Murphy
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501732013
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
In the first book wholly concerned with divine authority, Mark C. Murphy explores the extent of God's rule over created rational beings. The author challenges the view—widely supported by theists and nontheists alike—that if God exists, then humans must be bound by an obligation of obedience to this being. He demonstrates that this view, the "authority thesis," cannot be sustained by any of the arguments routinely advanced on its behalf, including those drawn from perfect being theology, metaethical theory, normative principles, and even Scripture and tradition. After exposing the inadequacies of the various arguments for the authority thesis, he develops his own solution to the problem of whether, and to what extent, God is authoritative. For Murphy, divine authority is a contingent matter: while created rational beings have decisive reason to subject themselves to the divine rule, they are under divine authority only insofar as they have chosen to allow God's decisions to take the place of their own in their practical reasoning. The author formulates and defends his arguments for this view, and notes its implications for understanding the distinctiveness of Christian ethics.

Treatise on Law

Treatise on Law PDF Author: Saint Thomas (Aquinas)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Christian ethics
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description


By This Standard: The Authority of God's Law Today

By This Standard: The Authority of God's Law Today PDF Author: Greg L. Bahnsen
Publisher: American Vision
ISBN: 0915815842
Category : Church and state
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description


Ministers of the Law

Ministers of the Law PDF Author: Jean Porter
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 1467434515
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 512

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Book Description
In Ministers of the Law Jean Porter articulates a theory of legal authority derived from the natural law tradition. As she points out, the legal authority of most traditions rests on their own internal structures, independent of extralegal considerations -- legal houses built on sand, as it were. Natural law tradition, on the other hand, offers a basis for legal authority that goes beyond mere arbitrary commands or social conventions, offering some extralegal authority without compromising the independence and integrity of the law. Yet Porter does more in this volume than simply discuss historical and theoretical realms of natural law. She carries the theory into application to contemporary legal issues, bringing objective normative structures to contemporary Western societies suspicious of such concepts.

The Law of God

The Law of God PDF Author: Rémi Brague
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022680805X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Book Description
The law of God: these words conjure an image of Moses breaking the tablets at Mount Sinai, but the history of the alliance between law and divinity is so much longer, and its scope so much broader, than a single Judeo-Christian scene can possibly suggest. In his stunningly ambitious new history, Rémi Brague goes back three thousand years to trace this idea of divine law in the West from prehistoric religions to modern times—giving new depth to today’s discussions about the role of God in worldly affairs. Brague masterfully describes the differing conceptions of divine law in Judaic, Islamic, and Christian traditions and illuminates these ideas with a wide range of philosophical, political, and religious sources. In conclusion, he addresses the recent break in the alliance between law and divinity—when modern societies, far from connecting the two, started to think of law simply as the rule human community gives itself. Exploring what this disconnection means for the contemporary world, Brague—powerfully expanding on the project he began with The Wisdom of the World—re-engages readers in a millennia-long intellectual tradition, ultimately arriving at a better comprehension of our own modernity. “Brague’s sense of intellectual adventure is what makes his work genuinely exciting to read. The Law of God offers a challenge that anyone concerned with today’s religious struggles ought to take up.”—Adam Kirsch, New YorkSun “Scholars and students of contemporary world events, to the extent that these may be viewed as a clash of rival fundamentalisms, will have much to gain from Brague’s study. Ideally, in that case, the book seems to be both an obvious primer and launching pad for further scholarship.”—Times Higher Education Supplement

Sovereign Authority and the Elaboration of Law in the Bible and the Ancient Near East

Sovereign Authority and the Elaboration of Law in the Bible and the Ancient Near East PDF Author: Dylan R. Johnson
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
ISBN: 3161595092
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
Five Pentateuchal texts (Lev 24:10-23; Num 9:6-14; Num 15:32-36; Num 27:1-11; Num 36:1-12) offer unique visions of the elaboration of law in Israel's formative past. In response to individual legal cases, Yahweh enacts impersonal and general statutes reminiscent of biblical and ancient Near Eastern law collections. From the perspective of comparative law, Dylan R. Johnson proposes a new understanding of these texts as biblical rescripts: a legislative technique that enabled sovereigns to enact general laws on the basis of particular legal cases. Typological parallels drawn from cuneiform and Roman law illustrate the complex ideology informing the content and the form of these five cases. The author explores how latent conceptions of law, justice, and legislative sovereignty shaped these texts, and how the Priestly vision of law interacted with and transformed earlier legal traditions.

7 Divine Laws to Awaken Your Best Self

7 Divine Laws to Awaken Your Best Self PDF Author: Swami Mukundananda
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 9390327091
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
'Just as heat is inherent in fire, so is our desire to become better.' Why are personal growth and life transformation so difficult? Does Creation wish that we fail? Of course not! The purpose behind the Universe's grand design is to make us succeed. Our own unawareness of the laws of the Universe creates the impediment. Just as physical phenomena are regulated by laws, there are spiritual principles governing the journey of life as well. Knowledge of them helps us understand why success comes so easily to some but remains a struggle for others; why some are still putting on their shoes, while others have finished the race. The beauty is that, like the physical laws of nature, the divine principles governing happiness and fulfilment in life are also eternally valid. In this book, Swami Mukundananda explains the 7 divine laws in an easily graspable manner. With knowledge of the Vedic scriptures and witty anecdotes that everyone can relate to, this book will empower you to become the best version of yourself.

The Search for God's Law

The Search for God's Law PDF Author: Bernard G. Weiss
Publisher: International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)
ISBN: 087480938X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 3

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Book Description
Scholars praised the 1992 edition of this book as a groundbreaking intellectual treatment of Islamic jurisprudence. Bernard Weiss's revised edition brings to life Sayf al-Din al-Amidi's classic exposition of the methodologies through which Muslim scholars have constructed their understandings of the divine law. Weiss's new introduction provides an overview of Amidi's jurisprudence that facilitates deeper comprehension of the challenging dialect of the text. This edition includes an in-depth analysis of the nature of language and the ways in which it madeiates the law, while shaping it at the same time. An index has been added.

Commentary on Thomas Aquinas's Treatise on Law

Commentary on Thomas Aquinas's Treatise on Law PDF Author: J. Budziszewski
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316060942
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 521

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Book Description
Natural moral law stands at the center of Western ethics and jurisprudence and plays a leading role in interreligious dialogue. Although the greatest source of the classical natural law tradition is Thomas Aquinas's Treatise on Law, the Treatise is notoriously difficult, especially for nonspecialists. J. Budziszewski has made this formidable work luminous. This book - the first classically styled, line-by-line commentary on the Treatise in centuries - reaches out to philosophers, theologians, social scientists, students, and general readers alike. Budziszewski shows how the Treatise facilitates a dialogue between author and reader. Explaining and expanding upon the text in light of modern philosophical developments, he expounds this work of the great thinker not by diminishing his reasoning, but by amplifying it.