Saeculum: government, law and culture

My new book, The Crisis of Civil Law: What the Bible Teaches about Law and What It Means Today has been officially published this week!

It offers an account of law grounded in the best of the Christian tradition relating to law, including magisterial Protestant writings, but also Roman Catholic sources.

Christians, especially evangelicals, typically wish to develop a distinctly Christian view of the world, including law. However, the Bible is not exhaustive and leaves many questions unanswered. One key purpose of the book, therefore, is to navigate between the imperative of biblical faithfulness, and the non-exhaustive nature of scriptural teaching.

The book sets out a series of foundational principles which I argue ought to guide Christians as they think about law. Core to the book is a Protestant account of natural law – the universal moral order which characterises the creation and which is summarised in the Decalogue.

The book draws on the medieval metaphor of natural law as the foundation for human civil law, providing the foundational principles which ought to be given effect to in any system of civil laws. There is not one way to do this, as human laws must take account of the changing circumstances of human societies. It is therefore not possible to develop a blueprint for human civil law, but much depends on wisdom.

The book contains a discussion of some of the richness of the biblical material on law, and an exposition of the ten commandments. There is a chapter devoted to obedience and disobedience to civil government, and a critique of some positions such as theonomy.

It is available direct from the publisher, from Reformers, and from Koorong. I am grateful to Lexham Press, who were excellent to work with and have produced a very handsome volume.

My current projects include a book on natural law, which is mostly complete, and a book on church law from a Reformed perspective, which I hope to finish within the next 12 months, time permitting.