Earlier this month, The Davenant Institute held its Second Annual Denver Regional Convivium Irenicum in the shadow of the Rocky Mountain foothills, at Colorado Christian University. The Convivium was organized by Dr. Ian Clary, Assistant Professor of Historical Theology at CCU, with the help of a steering committee of local friends, including Dr. Aaron Denlinger, Professor Michael Plato, Professor Caleb Cohoe, and myself. The broad theme of the conference was Protestant retrieval of Natural Law. The theme was explicitly tackled in the keynote speeches of Friday night, where our speakers addressed a packed room of 180 students, local pastors, academics, and interested laypeople. (Shoutout to Matthew Graham the extremely well-informed IT guy!) Our first keynote speaker was Dr. David Van Drunen of Westminster Seminary California, who is one of the foremost advocates for a revival of Natural Law in Reformed theology. His talk, “Why Protestant Christianity Needs a Theology of Natural Law,” was a persuasive and accessible overview of the reasons Christians have to affirm Natural Law. Our second keynote speaker was Dr. Bradford Littlejohn, President of The Davenant Institute. His talk, “Natural Law as Nature and as Law: Reformed Refractions of the Thomist Tradition,” was a more specific look at two ways Reformed theologians adapted Natural Law thought to fit with the Reformed understanding of deep human corruption resulting from the fall. Conversation on these topics continued late into the night.
Saturday’s program saw a pared down but highly engaged audience. Mark Boespflug (University of Colorado) gave a talk on “Locke and the Rationality of Faith,” which carefully and clearly laid out Locke’s criteria for what constitutes reasonable belief. This led to a discussion of how this kind of rationally justified belief compares with traditional understanding of faith as a gift. (By the end we all agreed that the two were quite different.)
Next, Michael Plato (Colorado Christian University) delivered the talk “Thomas Reid and Scottish Common Sense Realism.” This talk addressed theologically conservative Old Princeton’s use of Thomas Reid in the realm of moral philosophy. This influence was controversial at the time, and its depth and breadth is still being uncovered. Mike’s talk led to a discussion of the eclectic way Reformed theologians can and should approach the tools of philosophy, and in particular of the usefulness of Common Sense Realism for this purpose.
We broke for lunch, sat in the sun, and continued various conversations. My table spent most of our meal trying to fit Aristotle’s concept of specific animal forms with evolution. Results were mixed.
After lunch, Caleb Cohoe (Metropolitan State University of Denver) gave the talk “Self-Preservation and Suicide: Stoic Views of Natural Law and Augustine’s Response.” It outlined the views of the ancient Stoics on suicide (they were very pro). Augustine’s response demonstrated that it was their pride and disordered desire for autonomy that led them to this view. The Stoics were the original Natural Law theorists, so looking at their ethical conclusions was interesting in its own right, and also served as an example of the limits of natural reason in ethical thinking.
The Convivium wrapped up with a panel discussion, featuring all our speakers (watch it here). We started by addressing the state of Natural Law thinking in the Reformed tradition today. We agreed that there is a growing acceptance of Natural Law, and that we look forward to the next steps, which will have to go beyond mere acceptance, to a nuanced development of Natural Law theories, and especially of how to talk about Natural Law to those outside the Christian tradition. There was also a discussion between Dr. Littlejohn and Dr. Van Drunen about the Natural Law order and its relation to the New Covenant of the Church. Specifically, Brad wanted to know whether David envisioned a different, eschatologically-oriented track of morality for the Church than that which is taught by Natural Law. David did not defend this position, although he did want to say that there is a super-abundance in the Church that goes above the dictates of mere nature. We ended with a question for Caleb about whether the Númenóreans of Middle Earth were pro-suicide, just in case anyone was in doubt about the degree to which we are all huge nerds.
All in all, it was a productive, stimulating, and highly convivial Convivium. Many thanks to the Brads and the Davenant Institute, to our brilliant speakers, especially Dr. David VanDrunen, to our generous host Colorado Christian University, and to Dr. Ian Clary for making it all happen.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner content_placement=”middle” css=”.vc_custom_1520620579170{background-color: #dddddd !important;border-radius: 10px !important;}”][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”14321″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” css=”.vc_custom_1521149753922{padding-top: 10px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;}”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_custom_heading text=”Read the Davenant Guide to Natural Law” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:40|text_align:center” google_fonts=”font_family:Playfair%20Display%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic%2C900%2C900italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][vc_btn title=”Buy Natural Law: A Brief Introduction and Biblical Defense” style=”flat” color=”inverse” size=”lg” align=”center” link=”url:http%3A%2F%2Fa.co%2FeolgsWm|||”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]