Ep. 23: Calvin, Thomism, and Natural Law Libertarianism, with Jonathan McIntosh

An interview with Dr. Jonathan McIntosh on several of his presentations at The George Buchanan Forum. We discuss errors in Calvin’s view of civil government, and we mention the God-ordained check on abuse and tyranny. We then discuss McIntosh’s outline of a classical or Thomistic natural law tradition approach to libertarianism, and his critique of the Aristotelian-Thomist view of politics. We also discuss the neglected figurative or typological character of old covenant civil law by scholastic thinkers. We conclude with information about The George Buchanan Forum and other articles from McIntosh.

https://reformedlibertarians.com/023

Main Points of Discussion

00:00 Introduction

00:32 Episode description

01:30 Guest intro and background

10:11 Errors of Calvin’s view of civil government

15:21 Value in such critique and why Calvin’s erroneous view is popular

19:53 Comments on Reformers vs Calvin and obsta principiis

23:03 Natural Law Libertarianism

31:59 Moral realism, harm, and double effect

39:32 Errors of a Thomist view of politics