Protestanci wobec prawa naturalnego

Abstract

Contrary to a long-standing conviction that Protestants reject natural law, this paper focuses at demonstrating that the natural law doctrine has its place in the post-Reformation tradition. It is becoming not only a subject of ecumenical discussions between Protestants and Catholics, but for Protestants also increasingly proves to be an essential in the cooperation with the non-Christian world. This paper first sets forth major faith-premises ot Protestant Christian ethics which relate to epistemology, anthropology, soteriology, covenant theology and human sin. Then Protestants’ understanding of natural law in its variety is being set out, starting with M. Luther and J. Calvin who in fact never rejected natural law. Out of many contemporary Protestant theologians and ethicists some accept the idea and even develop it (e.g. E. Brunner, J. Charles, C. Braaten, Anglican moral theologians), others are more critical toward the concept or even totally repudiate its meaning in their theologies or ethics (e.g. K. Barth, J. Yoder, S. Hauerwas).