Natural Theology and The Christian Faith

1958 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 362-374
Author(s):  
Nels F. S. Ferré
Keyword(s):  
Natural Theology ◽  
Biblical Theology ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Knowledge Of God ◽  
Slowing Down ◽  
Existential Interpretation ◽  
Expanding Circle ◽  
Inclusive Approach ◽  
General Experience ◽  
Biblical Faith

For over a generation now (in Protestant circles) natural theology has fallen on evil days. Barth has stamped ruthlessly on every attempt to ground the Christian faith in any form of general knowledge. ‘Back to the biblical faith’ became his watchword. Bultmann likewise scorned Weltanschauung as the importation of Stoicism into the non-philosophical Christian faith. Between Barth's biblical theology and Bultmann's existentialism there was such a strong bond of common hostility to general revelation that natural theology was rejected outright—for natural theology is most properly defined as any knowledge of God, His will and His ways, based on man's general experience, knowledge, and reason.Lately, however, for good or ill, there are some signs of return. The thrust of Kierkegaard's anti-rational and antiempirical polemic is being broken both as its newness wears off and as its negativity stands naked before us. The anti-theological as well as the an ti-metaphysical drive of linguistic philosophy is slowing down, and there is even evident most recently a somewhat more constructive mood and method within this philosophical position. The power of Tillich's position, in sharp contrast, has been partly due to a bold system holding that, while recognising the truths inherent in both Barth's anti-liberal stand and Bultmann's existential interpretation of the Christian faith, nevertheless dares to base itself on the fulness of the facts of experience and of human history. Tillich's positive and inclusive approach is commending itself to a fast expanding circle of thinkers.

The Contemporary Reception of Aquinas on the Natural Knowledge of God

2021 ◽  
pp. 595-611
Author(s):  
David VanDrunen
Keyword(s):  
Natural Theology ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Natural Order ◽  
Reformed Theology ◽  
Summa Theologiae ◽  
Human Reason ◽  
Natural Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Of God ◽  
Attributes Of God

This chapter considers key themes from Thomas Aquinas’ view of the natural knowledge of God, or natural theology, from the opening of his Summa theologiae. It is written from the perspective of Reformed theology, which has traditionally supported natural theology of a certain kind, despite its recent reputation as an opponent of natural theology. According to Thomas, natural theology is insufficient for salvation and is inevitably laden with errors apart from the help of supernatural revelation. But human reason, operating properly, can demonstrate the existence and certain attributes of God from the natural order, and this natural knowledge constitutes preambles to the articles of the Christian faith. The chapter thus engages in a critically sympathetic analysis of these themes and suggests how a contemporary reception of Thomas might appropriate them effectively.

Natural theology

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott MacDonald
Keyword(s):  
Inductive Inference ◽  
Natural Theology ◽  
Biblical Theology ◽  
Religious Language ◽  
Sense Perception ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Deductive Argument ◽  
Knowledge Of God

Natural theology aims at establishing truths or acquiring knowledge about God (or divine matters generally) using only our natural cognitive resources. The phrase ‘our natural cognitive resources’ identifies both the methods and data for natural theology: it relies on standard techniques of reasoning and facts or truths in principle available to all human beings just in virtue of their possessing reason and sense perception. As traditionally conceived, natural theology begins by establishing the existence of God, and then proceeds by establishing truths about God’s nature (for example, that God is eternal, immutable and omniscient) and about God’s relation to the world. A precise characterization of natural theology depends on further specification of its methods and data. One strict conception of natural theology – the traditional conception sometimes associated with Thomas Aquinas – allows only certain kinds of deductive argument, the starting points of which are propositions that are either self-evident or evident to sense perception. A broader conception might allow not just deductive but also inductive inference and admit as starting points propositions that fall short of being wholly evident. Natural theology contrasts with investigations into divine matters that rely at least in part on data not naturally available to us as human beings. This sort of enterprise might be characterized as revelation-based theology, in so far as the supernatural element on which it relies is something supernaturally revealed to us by God. Revelation-based theology can make use of what is ascertainable by us only because of special divine aid. Dogmatic and biblical theology would be enterprises of this sort. Critics of natural theology fall generally into three groups. The first group, the majority, argue that some or all of the particular arguments of natural theology are, as a matter of fact, unsuccessful. Critics in the second group argue that, in principle, natural theology cannot succeed, either because of essential limitations on human knowledge that make it impossible for us to attain knowledge of God or because religious language is such as to make an investigation into its truth inappropriate. The third group of critics holds that natural theology is in some way irrelevant or inimical to true religion. They argue in various ways that the objectifying, abstract and impersonal methods of natural theology cannot capture what is fundamentally important about the divine and our relation to it.

Een wandelgids bij het leven: Een analytische evaluatie van de Christelijke Dogmatiek

2015 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-37
Author(s):  
Rik Peels
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Natural Theology ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Systematic Theology ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Analysis And Evaluation ◽  
The Core ◽  
General Perspective ◽  
The Way

This article provides a critical analysis and evaluation of Gijsbert van den Brink and Kees van der Kooi’s Christian Dogmatics, a lucid and welcome presentation of the core ideas that can be found in the Christian faith. First, the book is characterized, both from a more general perspective and from a specifically theological point of view. Next, it is argued that there is a discrepancy between the way the authors characterize systematic theology and the way they practice systematic theology themselves. After that, their assessment of natural theology is criticized and several problems in the Christian Dogmatics are highlighted, such as the fact that the authors’ anthropology fails to take holistic dualism seriously. Finally, it is argued that in some places, the authors ask important questions, but then provide answers to different questions without addressing the original issues.

The Science of Life

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donovan O. Schaefer
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
William James ◽  
Natural Theology ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
New Developments ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Christian Thought

This chapter examines broad transformations in Christian thought that came to pass over the course of the nineteenth century through exposure to new developments in the life sciences. Taking William Paley’s Natural Theology (1802) as a starting point, it shows how a conception of an unchanging God that could be demonstrated through rational proof was affected by the new emphasis on change in the biological sciences, especially in the aftermath of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species in 1859. Rather than suggesting that these new themes weakened Christian faith, however, a close examination of Christian thought in the latter half of the nineteenth century shows that encounters with science energized Christian theology, philosophy, and practice. This trajectory culminated with the development of the psychology of religion, as exhibited by the American pragmatists William James and Charles S. Peirce. George Eliot’s Middlemarch serves as a guide to the complexity of these transformations.

scholarly journals Are we »Christians« only on Sunday? What about Monday? - The biblical drama in four acts as a framework for an integrated view of work

2017 ◽  
Vol XV (3) ◽  
pp. 425-448
Author(s):  
Dražen Glavaš
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Theology ◽  
Biblical Story ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Theology Of Work ◽  
Biblical Drama ◽  
Biblical Faith ◽  
Complete Framework ◽  
New Framework

By percentage Croatia is a highly »Christian« country (more than 91 percent), sadly that does not mean that it is a country of high ethics. In reality Croatia struggles on many ethical battlegrounds. We start this paper with the assumption that a rightly understood and clearly communicated integration of biblical faith and work can contribute to the solution of problems in Croatia. But we found through research that few people read and understand the Bible. When the Holy Scriptures do not have such importance, for most people who describe themselves as Christians, it is hard to understand and talk about the biblical view of work or biblical theology of work. We propose a new framework for an integrated view of work as a lens through which we can better understand the whole biblical story. Without looking at this more complete framework, we lose the context and conception of work.

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