Written on the Heart: The Case for Natural Law

By J. Budziszewski

Book Overview

J. Budziszewski presents and defends the natural-law tradition by expounding the work of leading architects of the theory, including Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas and John Locke.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 083081891X
• ISBN13: 9780830818914
• Release Date: May 1997
• Publisher: IVP Academic
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Well-written natural law survey and terse critique

While Budziszewski offers a well-written CliffsNotes-styled survey of natural law thinkers, it is important to note that he avoids allowing his Christian worldview or Weltanschauung to interfere with the discussion - it is only in the concluding third of the text where Budziszewski relates natural law theory of the past and present to the Christian belief system. The text covers natural law thinkers Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas,...

Pressing after natural revelation

Although this book is written as sort of a college textbook/primer on natural law, it is a very readable summary of the main theories of natural law, as well as an evaluation of each. Budziszewski also provides a short, but well written apologetic of the Christian view of natural law at the end. That section, as well as the first section on Aristotle, I found to be the most interesting and useful. He shows how important...

Ancient Truth

"Quarry the granite rock with razors, or moor the vessel with a thread of silk, then may you hope with such keen and delicate instruments as human knowledge and human reason to contend against those giants, the passion and the pride of man." -John Henry Newman Everyday we make decisions about the paths we will take in life. At times we find ourselves conflicted beyond the normal level of simple decisions making. What we...

Teaching Natural Law to a Lawless Society

Since the great works of classic Greek philosophy are seldom taught either at the high school or college level, the author gives a brief but convincing grounding in Aristotle. Proceeding through other great thinkers like Thomas Aquinas, he relentlessly shows the universal applicability of moral principles. The book is a very effective foil for those post-modern thinkers who believe (without proof) that mankind has moved...

A Primer on Political Philosophy

Professor Budziszewski's defense of natural law is that, in spades, but is more. It gave me the sort of clear understanding of the basics of political philosophy that I should have received along with my B.A. in Political Science.Written on the Heart is a must-read for anyone who "knows" that there must be universal truth, and absolute standards of right and wrong, but just can't articluate the reason for that conviction...