If you are referring to mainline Protestant denominations, i.e. Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Lutheran, etc. though they have some regional and national/international organizational structure, there is no central teaching authority such as the CC’s magesterium, hence there generally is no central doctrine all must follow in their teaching at the local level… Even in the mainline denominations, various sects hold one position while another sect holds a differing view. Refer to the Episcopalian denominational argument of the last ten years of so regarding the the ordination of homosexual men and gay marriage. As to the independent pentecostal or fundamental churches, each pastor is his own “pope” and he or she decides what the moral teaching on any matter will be in that particular church.Do other Christian groups use the Natural Law for the foundation of their moral teaching? If not, what do those groups use to form their Moral Theology, especially on issues that may receive only vague mention in the Scriptures?
It is a longstanding commonplace in Christian thought that Protestantism distinguishes its moral theology from that of Roman Catholicism by its rejection of natural law. The idea of natural law has long formed the spinal column of Catholic social teaching. Modern Protestantism, by contrast, has no comparable coherent framework for grounding its social thought. As long as ago as 1891, on the occasion of the publication of one of the great documents of Catholic social teaching, Rerum Novarum , the Dutch Reformed theologian Abraham Kuyper conceded the Protestant disadvantage: “It must be admitted to our shame that the Roman Catholics are far ahead of us in their study of the social question. Indeed, very far ahead . . . . The action of the Roman Catholics should spur us Protestants to show more dynamism . . . . The Encyclical of Leo XIII gives the principles which are common to all Christians, and which we share with our Roman Catholic compatriots.” . . . Catholics have held rather firmly to natural law thinking in constructing their social teachings. The modern representatives of the two branches of the Reformation, Lutherans and Calvinists, have not so clearly retained a firm foothold in natural law theory. In fact, they swing erratically between a position of utter rejection of natural law and one of conditional acceptance. Almost never do they concede as much to natural law as we find in modern Catholic social teaching.
IiiiiiiIf you are referring to mainline Protestant denominations, i.e. Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Lutheran, etc. though they have some regional and national/international organizational structure, there is no central teaching authority such as the CC’s magesterium, hence there generally is no central doctrine all must follow in their teaching at the local level… Even in the mainline denominations, various sects hold one position while another sect holds a differing view. Refer to the Episcopalian denominational argument of the last ten years of so regarding the the ordination of homosexual men and gay marriage. As to the independent pentecostal or fundamental churches, each pastor is his own “pope” and he or she decides what the moral teaching on any matter will be in that particular church.
Most of the protestant denominations, at least the independent pentecostal/evangelical ones, rely only on the bible for answers to moral questions. Generally they downplay reliance on anything except what they distill from Scripture.
If you are referring to mainline Protestant denominations, i.e. Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Lutheran, etc. though they have some regional and national/international organizational structure, there is no central teaching authority such as the CC’s magesterium, hence there generally is no central doctrine all must follow in their teaching at the local level… Even in the mainline denominations, various sects hold one position while another sect holds a differing view. Refer to the Episcopalian denominational argument of the last ten years of so regarding the the ordination of homosexual men and gay marriage. As to the independent pentecostal or fundamental churches, each pastor is his own “pope” and he or she decides what the moral teaching on any matter will be in that particular church.
Most of the protestant denominations, at least the independent pentecostal/evangelical ones, rely only on the bible for answers to moral questions. Generally they downplay reliance on anything except what they distill from Scripture.
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