An Essay on Divine Authority by Mark C. Murphy (review)

314 BOOK REVIEWS casuistical questions that arise within natural law theory" (230). It is fair enough that one cannot do everything in one book; however, a very large part of the controversy over natural lawtheorysurelyconcerns the specific moral judgments about controversial questions that the tradition has proposed and the modern rejection of them. Murphy confines himself to brief discussions of discrimination, lying, and callousness. In the first of these discussions he actually mentions the controversy over discrimination against homosexuals by the military (231). The question of same-sex marriage, however, is of far greater moment and involves (in part, at least) the same principle. One may wonder if the thinness of these conclusions is related to Murphy's acceptance of Hume's law at the start. These questions notwithstanding, Natural Lawand Practical Rationality is an important book and one that should be studied by all contemporary students of the issues it treats. The book succeeds in advancing the project of an analytical natural law theory where others have failed, and contains many illuminating discussions of various related and subsidiary questions. The writing is clear and the quality of philosophical argument is very high. There has been a virtual rebirth of interest in and contribution to moral, political, and legal philosophy in the natural law tradition in recent years. Murphy's contribution to this increasingly lively and important conversation is among the most noteworthy and valuable. The Catholic University ofAmerica Washington, D.C. V. BRADLEY LEWIS An Essay on Divine Authority. By MARK C. MURPHY. Cornell Studies in the Philosophy of Religion. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2002. Pp. x +198. $39.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-8014-4030-0. In this book, Mark C. Murphy explores the question of God's rule over created beings. He challenges the view-widely held by theists and non-theists alike-that, if Grt• that sees the intelligibility of the world realized in mind-world function of the collaboration of knower and known. Ultimately Aquinas's ...