The Ministerium Naturae: Natural Law in the Exegesis and Theological Discourse at Paris between 1160 and 1215

Both Roman and canon lawyers began in the mid-twelfth century to give considerable attention to the theme of natural law, seeing it as foundational for their discipline. These legal discussions of lex naturae and ius naturalis have drawn considerable attention from modern scholars. While far less attention has been paid to the contemporary treatment of natural law in other disciplines, the concept was clearly important to early scholastic theologians. This article will examine how a number of leading masters of theology at the cathedral school of Notre Dame and at the University of Paris (ca. 1160–1215) derived natural law theories from biblical exegesis and applied to those theories their understanding of the knowledge of God, of ethics, and of politics.