Book Review: 50 Questions on the Natural Law by Charles Rice

50 Questions on the Natural Law: What It Is and Why We Need It by Charles Rice

Having taught about the subject in Notre Dame Law School, Charles Rice has taken common, persistent questions from his students as a method for explaining the Natural Law. The issue is significant today because of the many different approaches to jurisprudence in America. The main champion of natural law thinking is the Roman Catholic Church, so opponents are suspect of the theory. Other, more neutral thinkers (students come in all sorts) may be uninformed and curious about the topic.

Rice starts with basic and broad topics, those mentioned in the subtitle of the book. The theory dates back before the beginning of the church, mainly in ancient Greece and Rome, though elements can be found elsewhere across the globe. The reason for its ubiquity is because natural law is embedded in human nature. We have a semi-instinctual sense for what is right and wrong because we are individual persons who are part of communities. Obligations toward the community and toward one another come along with expectations from the community and from one another. To avoid the capricious whims of rulers, laws need to be crafted and written down so that they can be applied to all--all peoples in all situations at all times. Natural law depends on an understanding of human persons and human community.

The Catholic Church has a long tradition of reflecting on the nature of persons. In resolving the various controversies about Jesus Christ's true nature (How is Jesus both man and God? How do the two natures interact in the one person? What sort of union is there/can there be between the human and the divine? Etc.) and about the nature of the Trinity (How can there be three persons in one being? Etc.). A theological culmination happened with Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican theologian from the thirteenth century who integrated much of the Church's theological reflections with the newly rediscovered systematic philosophy of Aristotle. His legal reflections take in the insights of what it means to be a person, what it means to be in a community, and what it means for humans to be made in the image and likeness of God. His legal theory (which the Church has largely adopted) looks at divine law and human law, how they interact and how they are made explicit in written divine law (revelation) and written human law. 

The text moves through these general notions, eventually working down to more specific issues like the role of the Church in legal matters, the need for an authentic understanding of human nature, and the need to contextualize legal systems within the larger framework of human reality, i.e. as subjects not of just the state, but also of God. Rice also gets into specifics about capitalism vs. socialism, right to life issues, marriage issues, and other details.

The text is interesting and engaging. It's not bogged down with technical detail and the sort of arcane language that will intimidate general readers. Rice is very honest and clear in presenting his arguments. Overall, he makes a great and persuasive presentation. The main drawbacks are the book's contemporary assessment of American jurisprudence and the last handful of questions. A lot has happened in the thirty years since the 1993 publication date. The concerns over abortion and euthanasia have shifted. I'm sure if the book was written in the 2020s a few questions would be dedicated to the church's positions on gender dysphoria and on racism. The final questions in the book have a lot of long quotes from church documents and theologians, making it feel more "cut and paste" than original authorship. Otherwise, it's a brilliant work.

Highly recommended--this is a great introduction to Natural Law theory.