ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the Italian known as the father of the science of canon law. The label indicates the stature of Gratian (fl. 1130s) within the history of canon law and thus Western jurisprudence, but this chapter also highlights the distinctively Christian dimensions of Gratian’s work, the Concordia discordantium canonum or Decretum. After an overview of what scholarship can determine about Gratian’s life and the development of his textbook, the essay treats four topics that both demonstrate the biblical and theological roots of Gratian’s work and indicate his influence in later jurisprudence. Those four areas are: (1) the hierarchy of laws from natural law down to various types of human law, (2) penance as a fundamental consideration in how to handle erring Church members, (3) culpability and the determination of when dispensations, or exceptions to general rules, are warranted, and (4) proper procedure as a means to ensure as just a system of law as possible.
