Original Research

Learning the natural law as maturation in wisdom

David VanDrunen
In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi | Vol 50, No 1 | a2110 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ids.v50i1.2110 | © 2016 David VanDrunen | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 01 March 2016 | Published: 09 September 2016

About the author(s)

David VanDrunen, Department of Theological Studies, Westminster Seminary California, United States

Abstract

Despite the technical character of natural law scholarship, most people who live in accord withthe natural law do not do so because they have been persuaded by technical argumentation. How do people truly come to know the natural law? Learning the natural law is essentially thesame process as maturing in wisdom. Building upon theological conceptions of natural lawand wisdom, this article concludes that wisdom is the suitable power by which peopleapprehend subjectively what the natural law prescribes objectively. Thus the way in which wegrow in wisdom – through a communal process of receiving instruction and observing andreflecting upon life experience – is also the primary way in which people come to know andpractice the natural law. This conclusion suggests a revised perspective on how natural lawyerspursue their work as they seek to address the moral fragmentation of our day.

Keywords

Natural law; wisdom; Proverbs

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Crossref Citations

1. LEGAL POLYCENTRISM: A CHRISTIAN THEOLOGICAL AND JURISPRUDENTIAL EVALUATION
David VanDrunen
Journal of Law and Religion  vol: 32  issue: 3  first page: 383  year: 2017  
doi: 10.1017/jlr.2017.37