Ministers of the Law: A Natural Law Theory of Legal Authority (Emory University Studies in Law and Religion)
“Ministers of the Law is a stunning and compelling argument for the importance of the history of Western legal thought for the jurisprudence of political authority. Jean Porter demonstrates with impressive learning that European jurists before the age of legal positivism had placed clear and absolute boundaries on the authority and power of rulers and magistrates. These boundaries were defined by the rights of human beings that transcended the ‘rule of law’ and constitutions. This book should be required reading for every American constitutional scholar and, in particular, every American Supreme Court justice.”— Kenneth PenningtonCatholic University of America“In this book Jean Porter uses the formidable fruits of her decades-long study of natural law to construct a thorough, theological account of a vital, though much disparaged, element of human flourishing: authority — natural, political, and legal. Conversing with contemporary legal philosophy and political theology, Porter argues boldly that positive law, national and international, possesses an authority that may trump anti-terrorist expedients and even general humanitarian considerations. Fluently written, methodically clear, and analytically satisfying, Ministers of the Law deploys a Christian ethic of unusual philosophical sophistication to enlighten issues of great public importance.”— Nigel BiggarUniversity of Oxford“A major contribution to modern debates on the grounding of law. The author presents an original account of natural law as a ‘basis of legitimation’ that can validate a variety of political systems and structures of positive law.”— Brian TierneyCornell University“Jean Porter accomplishes a most unusual thing. She illuminates and at the same time renders subtle in every hue and shade a most difficult set of questions on natural law. I could not stop reading, and in some places disagreeing with, this splendid work. I think it is her best yet.”— Russell HittingerUniversity of Tulsa