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Topic: Natural theology

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Arguments for the existence of God

Kalam cosmological argument

Process theology

William Paley

Aquinas

Deism

Summa contra Gentiles

The Blind Watchmaker

David Hume

Natural law

Immanuel Kant

Telos (philosophy)

Manichean heresy

Immanent

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	Natural theology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Thus it is distinguished from revealed theology (or revealed religion) which is based on scripture and religious experiences of various kinds; and also from transcendental theology, theology from a priori reasoning (see Immanuel Kant et alia).
		Natural theology was originally part of philosophy and theology, and theologians still study it; but most of its content also forms part of the philosophy of religion.
		They were established to "promote and diffuse the study of Natural Theology in the widest sense of the term— in other words, the knowledge of God." The term natural theology as used by Gifford means theology supported by science and not dependent on the miraculous.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Natural_theology (641 words)

	Natural theology (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-20)
		Leibniz' discourse on the natural theology of the Chinese and the Leibniz-Clarke controversy.
		The Metaphysics of Theism: Aquinas's Natural Theology in Summa contra gentiles I.(Review)
		With the Grain of the Universe: The Church's Witness and Natural Theology.
	www.hallencyclopedia.com /Natural_theology (452 words)

	Natural Theology [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-20)
		"Natural Theology" is the favorite term in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries designating the knowledge of God drawn from nature in distinction from the knowledge of God contained in revelation.
		This division of theology into natural and revealed had its roots in the scholastic distinction between the two truths, one derived from nature by the use of the Aristotelian logic, subject to the authority of the Church, the other, truth above reason, revealed by God but formulated and taught solely by authority of the Church.
		The deists relied exclusively on natural theology, on the ground that the being and attributes of God could be exhaustively ascertained from the constitution and course of the world, thus superseding the necessity of supernatural revelation.
	www.utm.edu /research/iep/n/nattheol.htm (340 words)

	CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Moral Theology
		Natural theology is the science of God Himself, in as far as the human mind can by its own efforts reach a definite conclusion about God and His nature: it is always designated by the adjective natural.
		Moral theology, on the other hand, is limited to those doctrines which discuss the relations of man and his free actions to God and his supernatural end, and propose the means instituted by God for the attainment of that end.
		Nor is moral theology confined to the exposition of those duties and virtues which cannot be shirked if man wishes to attain his last end; it includes all virtues, even those which mark the height of Christian perfection, and their practice, not only in the ordinary degree, but also in the ascetical and mystical life.
	www.newadvent.org /cathen/14601a.htm (9481 words)

	Natural Theology
		The first great proponent of a natural theology distinguishable from revealed theology was Thomas Aquinas, the synthesizer of Greek philosophy and the gospel, who also laid the groundwork for notions of "natural law," the ethical equivalent of natural theology.
		Aquinas defined theology as a "science" in the Aristotelian sense, that is, a definable body of knowledge with its own sources, principles, methods, and content, and he insisted that beyond the truths derived from the study of Scripture there was another body of (compatible) truths based upon the application of reason to the created world.
		And thus Catholics are in fact inclined to see a continuum between natural theology, that which is known of God by the light of natural reason, and revealed theology, that which is known by the light of faith.
	mb-soft.com /believe/txn/natural.htm (1055 words)

	The Reformed Objection to Natural Theology
		Of the main philosophical and theological objections to natural theology found among Reformed theologians (i.e., immediacy of the natural knowledge of God, logical objections to theistic arguments, arguments from the noetic effects of sin, Sola Scriptura, and the impropriety of the apologetic use of theistic arguments), none provides a sufficient reason to reject natural theology.
		Since the natural process whereby such knowledge is acquired is typically taken to be inferential in nature, natural theology is ordinarily identified with arguments for the existence of God.
		According to Zagzebski, the Catholic contributors, unlike the Reformers, have a high regard for natural theology and are strongly committed to the efficacy of natural reason in attaining knowledge of God, as well as the grounding of revealed theology in natural theology.
	www.homestead.com /philofreligion/files/ProspectusNew.htm (4456 words)

	JOHN WESLEY AND NATURAL THEOLOGY (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-20)
		Natural theology is part of a general knowledge that does not depend on any special revelation or saving faith.
		Butler's natural theology is in sharp contrast to all the pervading rationality of his Deist contemporaries.
		The support of Butler's natural theology and the major thrust of Wesley's 69 Survey are direct consequences of Wesley’s concept of Prevenient Grace which proclaims that all men have been restored to the point that prior to faith they are capable of having some knowledge of God.
	wesley.nnu.edu /wesleyan_theology/theojrnl/16-20/18-13.htm (4193 words)

	natural theology
		Supporters of natural theology maintained that the existence of life and, in particular, intelligent life on other worlds, should be taken as evidence of God's omnipotence and generosity (see teleology).
		But although natural theology was successful in persuading many of its case for a God of the universe, it ran into problems in explaining how an incarnated redeemer – Jesus – could act to save souls throughout the cosmos (see incarnation and redemption).
		Among the principal advocates of natural theology were Johann Bode, David Brewster, Thomas Chalmers, William Derham, William Herschel, Johann Lambert, Johann Schröter, Emanuel Swedenborg, and Thomas Wright.
	www.daviddarling.info /encyclopedia/N/nattheol.html (262 words)

	natural theology > home page (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-20)
		The version of Christian theology espoused by the Roman Catholic Church has a strong theoretical backbone that can be traced from the writings of Aristotle and Plato through Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas and Bernard Lonergan into the twentieth century.
		Natural theology (think natural science) may consider every thought, feeling, action or event in the whole universe as revelation from and of God.
		The natural approach to the problem of the emergence of new patterns is bifurcation theory.
	www.naturaltheology.net (1620 words)

	natural theology - Books, journals, articles @ The Questia Online Library
		The Metaphysics of Theism: Aquinas's Natural Theology in Summa Contra Gentiles I
		...METAPHYSICS OF THEISM Aquinass Natural Theology in Summa contra gentiles I...metaphysics of theism: Aquinass natural theology in Summa contra gentiles I...Metaphysics.
		Books--Reviews, The Metaphysics of Theism: Aquinas's Natural Theology in Summa contra gentiles I. (Book)--Reviews
	www.questia.com /search/natural-theology (1673 words)

	Natural theology - Theopedia (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-20)
		Natural theology is the branch of philosophy and theology which attempts to either prove God's existence, define God's attributes, or derive correct doctrine based solely from human reason and/or observations of the natural world.
		Supporters of natural theology, such as Paul Tillich and Aquinas (among others), have argued that the existence of God can be known through reason.
		Many proponents of natural theology have attempted to establish an understanding of God by begining with their own understanding of the world and nature.
	www.theopedia.com /Natural_theology (396 words)

	Natural Theology
		Natural theology is defined as the knowledge of God (and immortality) which is logically independent of revelation.
		This science of Natural Theology according to Hume has in its being the most profound and abstruse of any, required the maturest judgment in its students; and none but a mind, enriched with all the other sciences, can safely be trusted with it.
		By natural theology we may mean any intellectual movement of the mind which is conceived to lie in a Godward direction; some sort of Godward movement of the mind is natural to man because man, even fallen man, is a man made for God and created in His image.
	latter-rain.com /theology/natheo.htm (562 words)

	The Scope of Natural Theology (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-20)
		Natural theology is the study of God as He reveals Himself in His continuing act of creation.
		Either natural theology is a scientific discipline which leads us to probable knowledge of reality, or it is the vain exercise of religious philosophizers who are trying to patch up theory which can never hope to have any proof.
		Natural theology does not seek to say anything about how nature must be, but it seeks to find out how God must be based on what we know to be true about nature.
	www.phys.lsu.edu /students/dhall/NWR/Alban/Chapter2/scope.html (601 words)

	Natural Theology and theistic constructions.
		It appears that much of the debate concerning natural theology revolves around the question of the validity or universal applicability of the presuppositions employed within the process, and how far it is possible for natural theology to go in articulating an understanding of specific characteristics or attributes of God.
		Natural theology demands that it is really only a priori propositions that can deliver mathematical certainty when dealing with the existence of God, because they demand purely logical processes, and are separate from experiences that are often interpreted through a mindset that is already pro-theistic.
		Proponents of natural theology claim that the process is capable of proving the existence of God to an atheist, though it would appear that as the tradition has continued to develop, the lack of complete certainty within the arguments has resulted in the process playing into the hands of atheists.
	www.geocities.com /Athens/Oracle/3499/asr305_1.htm (4626 words)

	20th WCP: The Elimination of Natural Theology
		Wittgensteinian objections to natural theology can be met by showing that the use of reason in religion is distinct from the general kind of philosophical speculation to which Wittgenstein rightly objected.
		Those who claim that one must already have faith in order to seek understanding successfully can be answered by showing that their claim can be tested empirically only when there is a robust practice of natural theology among those who do and do not have a prior faith.
		To refuse to conduct theology by the same canons of reason as are appealed to in secular research is to relegate religion to the museum of the prescientific, whereas to accept those standards of clarity and rigor is to acknowledge the standing that theology ought to have among the intellectual disciplines.
	www.bu.edu /wcp/Papers/Reli/ReliWhit.htm (2704 words)

	ADLER ARCHIVE: Natural Theology, Chance, and God
		Philosophical theology, which must never be confused, as it so often is, with natural theology, is strictly a branch of philosophy, and totally apart from any religious faith.
		This erroneous argument is later presented in Paley's Natural Theology, or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity (1816), in which the watchmaker's design of the time-piece he makes is proposed as the model in terms of which we should think of God's relation to the universe he creates.
		Their theology should be called "sacred dogmatic theology" because its first principles were articles of religious faith, based on interpretations of Sacred Scripture.
	radicalacademy.com /adlertheology1.htm (2057 words)

	Is There a Role for Natural Theology Today?
		If natural theology is mistakenly viewed as a source of proof for the Divine in the universe, then inevitable changes in scientific ideas pose a serious threat.
		However, if natural theology deals with hints and coherencies, not proofs and forced convictions, then I think it is on safe and reasonable ground.
		William Paley, Natural Theology; or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity Collected from the Appearances of Nature (Edinburgh, 1816), Chapter 5, section 5, p.
	www.leaderu.com /real/ri9501/natural.html (5260 words)

	MSN Encarta - Search Results - natural theology (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-20)
		Natural Theology, in Christianity, learning about God from creation, using reason alone.
		Natural Law (ethics), in ethical philosophy, theology, law, and social theory, a set of principles, based on what are assumed to be the permanent...
		Natural Theology; or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity: author
	encarta.msn.com /natural+theology.html (141 words)

	natural theology > essays > physical theology (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-20)
		A global theology must be one that is common to all languages.
		The passage from physics to theology follows this important symmetry of networks: their basic structure is independent of their complexity.
		In the light of physical theology, the basic developmental challenge facing the world today is to make sure that everybody is adequately connected into the networks of human life.
	www.naturaltheology.net /Essays/physTheolOct02.html (3344 words)

	Bloomsbury.com - Research centre (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-20)
		Natural theology is the attempt to understand God by means of rational reflection without the use of relevation, such as the Scriptures.
		In the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas formulated the distinction between natural and revealed theology, as opposed to older Augustinian view that there is no knowledge of God without revelation.
		A contemporary form of natural theology, process theology, has recently been taken up by Roman Catholic feminist theologians, and derives from the view of A.N. Whitehead and others, that God was a factor in the evolution of the universe.
	www.bloomsburymagazine.com /ARC/detail.asp?entryid=102522&bid=2 (174 words)

	Natural Theology
		Nature; Science; Religion; Natural Theology; Arnold, Matthew; Huxley; Darwin.
		The one constant is the protean nature, the multiplicity, the diversity, the volatility, and uncertainty of his thought.
		The natural world for Kingsley everywhere reveals the work of God; everything physical is but a reflection of the Eternal Realities.
	www2.bc.edu /~rappleb/Kingsley-Latest/KNaturalTheology.html (507 words)

	Paley's Natural Theology
		This is atheism; for every indication of contrivance, every manifestation of design which existed in the watch, exists in the works of nature, with the difference on the side of nature of being greater and more, and that in a degree which exceeds all computation.
		The question, therefore, is of very wide extent; and among other answers which may be given to it, beside reasons of which probably we are ignorant, one answer is this: it is only by the display of contrivance that the existence, the agency, the wisdom of the Deity could be testified to his rational creatures.
		III he will argue that certain natural objects - in particular, the eyes of various animals - are like a watch (or rather, telescope) in the relevant respect: they have a complex structure of parts which work together to produce sight.
	www-personal.umich.edu /~emcurley/paley.htm (5550 words)

	Untitled Document
		A cabinet-maker rubs his mahogany with fish-skin; yet it would be too much to assert that the skin of the dog-fish was made rough and granulated on purpose for the polishing of wood, and the use of cabinet-makers.
		She must have penetrated into the order of Nature further than any faculties of ours will carry us ; and it hath been well observed, that this deep sagacity, if it be sagacity, subsists in conjunction with great stupidity, even in relation to the same subject.
		The simple and natural life of brutes is not often visited by acute distempers ; nor could it be deemed an improvement of their lot, if it were.
	www.mtholyoke.edu /courses/srachoot/Darwin/naturaltheology.html (9626 words)

	Natural Theology of Paley (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-20)
		Rather than examining Paley's theology in detail it should be necessary only to examine his proof of the existence of God, and some of his discussion of the attributes of God.
		Paley begins his theology by postulating that if he is walking in country and stumbles against a stone that there is no objection to supposing that the stone had been there ever since the beginning of time.
		William Paley, Natural Theology; or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity (1802)
	www.victorianweb.org /religion/paley1.html (435 words)

	Natural Theology (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-20)
		His Natural Theology, then, gathers together the most compelling materialistic theories of the time, and counters these with an insightful analysis of their limitations.
		William Lawrence (1783—1867) in his Lectures on Physiology, Zoology, and the Natural History of Man (1817), argues that human thinking is solely the function of brain activity, and, as such, the study of it is the exclusive domain of the physiologist.
		The importance of Natural Theology to our present happiness and our future hopes, with its intimate connexion with Divine revelation, invests it with a decided superiority to every other subject of scientific inquiry.
	www.thoemmes.com /scottish/crombie_intro.htm (3363 words)

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