Reforming the Law of Nature - (Edinburgh Studies in Comparative Political Theory and Intellectual History) by Simon P Kennedy (Paperback)

About the Book

Uncovers the relationship between early modern natural law ideas and secular conceptions of politics.

Book Synopsis

Reforming the Law of Nature is a stimulating study of the development of natural law ideas in the early modern period, uncovering their connection to conceptions of the origins of politics. It brings sixteenth and seventeenth century jurisprudence, theology and political philosophy into conversation with one another to uncover the ways in which developments in political thought affected the emergence of a secular understanding of political life.

From the Back Cover

Uncovers the relationship between early modern natural law ideas and conceptions of the origins of politics Reforming the Law of Nature is a stimulating study of the development of natural law ideas in the early modern period. The book brings sixteenth and seventeenth century jurisprudence, theology and political philosophy into conversation with one another to explore the ways in which developments in political thought in the Reformed Protestant tradition affected the emergence of a secular understanding of political life. Simon P. Kennedy is Senior Lecturer in Humanities at Christian Heritage College and the Director of the Millis Institute, in Brisbane, Queensland. He is also a Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Queensland.

Review Quotes

Simon P. Kennedy offers an intellectual contribution of exceptionally high merit. By offering a nuanced and historically well-grounded analysis, demonstrates convincingly how natural law thinking in the early modern period first coincided with and then became unmoored from Protestant thought. Reforming the Law of Nature should effect a fundamental change in the way in which we recount the history of European natural law theory.

-- "Cary Nederman, College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University"

About the Author

Simon P. Kennedy is Senior Lecturer in Humanities at Christian Heritage College and the Director of the Millis Institute, in Brisbane, Queensland. He is also a Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Queensland. He researches the intersections between political ideas, law, and religion.