by Paul Befort

Each year, the Murphy Scholars participate in a program series focused around a theme which delves into the philosophical and theological foundations of law and policy matters.  I was fascinated by the vision of this year’s series since, as a former seminarian and a Master in Catholic Studies aspirant, I consider myself to have scratched the surface of the beauty and truth present in the Catholic faith. But this year revealed a fantastic depth to what I thought was an old topic: natural law.

The world has its own way of doing things. Unfortunately, this way of doing things is no longer closely connected with natural law. Why is this a problem? Isn’t natural law just an antiquated medieval mode of thought that is somewhat outdated in terms of solely shaping an appropriate worldview? I thought it was losing relevance until I heard three St. Thomas professors; Fr. Austin Litke, O.P., Dr. William Stevenson, and Msgr. Martin Schlag present on the subject throughout the semester.

Natural law, when referenced today, largely comes from the teachings of Saint Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica, Prima Secunda Pars, question 91. Natural law is God’s eternal law. God is the eternal law. We are all designed to participate in the natural law by our participation in the life of God. Natural law is therefore imprinted on our hearts, integral to each of us. Natural law is our guide to what it means to live our humanity to the fullest. The more we follow natural law, the more we participate in the eternal law Who is our ultimate end. The more in accord with natural law we are, the more human we are because we are living in accord with the design that God intended.

In Romans 2:15: Saint Paul talks about the law inscribed upon our hearts. At times our feelings might be at odds with this law, but the transcription of the law into our hearts is not on an emotional level, flawed by original sin, but rather on an intellectual level. Right reason will lead us to closer union with God. Our reason knows what is better for us than our feelings. We know, intellectually, that excess and comforts do not allow us to flourish in the long term. But our physical appetites are insatiable when not governed by reason. Our participation in the natural law is how we are the happiest long term.

Since under the natural law all is a gift from God, through a natural law lens, life is about growing in personal virtue to more fully participate in the life of God who has given us everything. A Christian’s civic life flows from a sense of grateful duty, therefore.

Straying from the natural law has caused problems. I was most affected by how the modern view of education is at odds with the natural law’s view of education. In medieval times education was focused on growing in personal virtue; mentor-to-mentee relationships were typically how this came about. Teacher-and-pupil relationships could become truly human relationships of discipleship. Today, now that civic life is no longer about personal virtue and trying to make a return to the Lord, education and relationships of all kinds often become fake and contrived. Teacher-student relationships are often limited to a sixteen-week term. Networking too is not about real encounters with another person, but about what can be gained from the other. Volunteering is not about making a return to the Lord, but about padding a resume. The focus has moved away from God and the Eternal Law, becoming more about economic advantage.

Social justice is a modern concept on how we can make a better society without God. It borrows from the natural law and our Christian past to deduce that humans have dignity. But it uses a distorted reference point. Social justice focuses on rights that are inherent to human beings for who they are (rather than because of who God is), and this dictates a legal and educational system that attempts to cultivate a virtuous society from the top down. Instead of personal virtue, which then flows out to change society on the individual level, social justice contends that human beings can be perfected of things like racism, etcetera, when institutions are perfected. Of course, legislating morality rarely works. Success in modern society, when not flowing from an interior place of virtue or a response to the Goodness we have received, currently involves using others to pad one’s resume.

Natural law sets us free from social contrivances for organic relationship with the Eternal Law. Everything else flows from there. It is a law that does not constrain us but allows us to have freedom for what we are created to be: truly human through a relational participation in the Eternal Law.

Paul Befort is a Murphy Scholar and 1L at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in the JD/CSMA program.

“Student Perspective” is a recurring blog series which highlights the various activities of the Murphy Scholar graduate students during their fellowship.