RT Article
T1 Pagans and Theologians: An Examination of the Use of Christian Sources in Niels Hemmingsen’s "De Lege Naturae"
JF Perichoresis
VO 20
IS 2
SP 63
OP 73
A1 Hutchinson, Eric J.
LA English
PB Sciendo, De Gruyter
YR 2022
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1801391033
AB At the conclusion of his De lege naturae apodictica methodus, a treatise on the law of nature, how it is grasped by the human mind, and how it coheres with the Decalogue, Niels Hemmingsen claims to have eschewed the use of theological sources in his argument, claiming instead to have demonstrated ‘how far reason is able to progress without the prophetic and apostolic word’. Yet the reader of the treatise will notice several citations of theologians alongside those of pagan poets and philosophers. This essay demonstrates that there is less here than meets the eye, that is, that Hemmingsen quotes theologians only to buttress what one can know from natural reason or the classical tradition, even when he is discussing God, and thus he does not violate his own stated principle.
K1 Aristotelianism
K1 Lutheranism
K1 Melanchthon
K1 Niels Hemmingsen
K1 Natural Law
DO 10.2478/perc-2022-0010