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christian-anthropology-ethicsfeatured in 40 works

Natural Law

A moral order written into human nature, legible to reason without revelation

Natural law is the idea of a moral order built into human nature and knowable by reason, understood to reflect God's eternal law. Romans 2 speaks of a law written on the heart, and Aquinas developed the theme at length in the Summa Theologiae. Traditions weigh it differently: it is central to Catholic moral theology, while Orthodox and Protestant ethics receive it with varying emphasis.

How it traveled

  1. Romans
    Corinth · 67
    explains
  2. Matthew
    Antioch · 80
    explains
  3. Luke
    Rome · 84
    explains
  4. The Instructions of Commodianus.
    — · 220
    explains
  5. Apology.
    — · 220
    explains
  6. The Letters
    Caesarea (Cappadocia) · 379
    explains
  7. The Hexæmeron
    Caesarea (Cappadocia) · 379
    explains
  8. On the Duties of the Clergy
    Milan · 397
    explains
  9. The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  10. Homilies on First Corinthians
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  11. The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  12. A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  13. The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  14. The Commentary and Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Galatians and Ephesians
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  15. The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Timothy, Titus, and Philemon
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  16. The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  17. The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  18. The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  19. City of God
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  20. Letters of St. Augustin
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  21. Expositions on the Book of Psalms
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  22. On Lying
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  23. On Christian Doctrine
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  24. Reply to Faustus the Manichæan
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  25. Against Lying
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  26. A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  27. Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  28. The Confessions
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  29. The Book of Pastoral Rule, and Selected Epistles, of Gregory the Great
    Rome · 604
    explains
  30. Selected Epistles of Gregory the Great
    Rome · 604
    explains
  31. Treatise on Man (qq[75]-102)
    Paris · 1274
    explains
  32. Commentary on Galatians
    Wittenberg · 1546
    explains
  33. Book Second. of the Knowledge of God the Redeemer, in Christ, as First Manifested to the Fathers, Under the Law, and Thereafter to Us Under the Gospel
    Geneva · 1564
    explains
  34. Book Third. the Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ. the Benefits It Confers, and the Effects Resulting from It
    Geneva · 1564
    explains
  35. Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic Church
    Geneva · 1564
    explains
  36. The great christian doctrine of original sin defended
    Northampton, Massachusetts · 1758
    explains
  37. XIV Five discourses on the soul's eternal salvation
    Northampton, Massachusetts · 1758
    explains
  38. a careful and strict inquiry into the prevailing notions of the freedom of will
    Northampton, Massachusetts · 1758
    explains
  39. A Dissertation on the Nature of True Virtue
    Northampton, Massachusetts · 1758
    explains
  40. Seventeen Occasional Sermons
    Northampton, Massachusetts · 1758
    explains

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Modern teachers who discuss this idea

Modern and living teachers whose books take up Natural Law. These works are still in copyright, so we can’t show the text here — each links out to the book.