Law and the Church Fathers

Abstract

Abstract The present chapter covers aspects related to law and the Church Fathers. It begins with an overview of who the Church Fathers were and how they thought about and dealt with law. It understands the Church Fathers not merely as a group of people in history (specific early Christians, leading intellectuals, and bishops) but also as a quasi-normative entity, a body of teaching, which continues to shape legal thinking in the Christian tradition. Contrariwise, the chapter takes into consideration that law was something early Christians encountered in their secular environment but also something they themselves developed and cultivated as a form of Christian law, and it considers how these two are connected and differ. The chapter goes on to discuss relevant concepts developed by the Church Fathers, such as divine law, natural law, freedom of religion, citizenship, the common good, and moral conscience. It does so by considering classical and biblical sources and the late ancient contexts of these concepts as well as their reception in later periods. Particular attention is paid to Origen’s concept of a freedom of conscience and Augustine’s ideas on citizenship, law, and the common good. The chapter finishes by briefly touching upon the relevance of these ideas through today.