Natural theology

Natural theology is the knowledge of God accessible to all rational human beings without recourse to any special or supposedly supernatural revelation. The expression 'natural theology' (theologia naturalis) seems to have been first used by Augustine with reference to the deepest theological insights of the classical philosophers. Natural theology (or natural religion) is theology based on reason and ordinary experience. 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.

Key Proponents

English bishop Thomas Barlow wrote Execreitationes aliquot metaphysicae de Deo (1637) and spoke often of natural theology during the reign of Charles II.

John Ray (1627-1705) also known as John Wray, was an English naturalist, sometimes referred to as the father of English natural history. He published important works on plants, animals, and natural theology.

Thomas Aquinas is the most famous classical proponent of this approach. A later form of natural theology known as deism rejected scripture and prophecy altogether.

In An Essay on the Principle of Population, the first edition published in 1798, Thomas Malthus ended with two chapters on natural theology and population. Malthus - a devout Christian - argued that revelation would "damp the soaring wings of intellect", and thus never let "the difficulties and doubts of parts of the scripture" interefere with his work.

William Paley gave a well-known rendition of the teleological argument for God. In 1802 he published Natural Theology, or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity collected from the Appearances of Nature. In this he described the Watchmaker analogy, for which he is probably best known. Criticisms of arguments like Paley's are found in David Hume's posthumous Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.

Thomas Paine wrote the definitive book on the natural religion of Deism, The Age of Reason. In it he uses reason to establish a belief in Nature's Designer who man calls God. He also establishes the many instances that Christianity and Judaism require us to give up our God-given reason in order to accept their claims to revelation.

American education reformer and abolitionist, Horace Mann taught political economy, intellectual and moral philosophy, and natural theology.

Professor of chemistry and natural history, Edward Hitchcock also studied and wrote on natural theology. He attempted to unify and reconcile science and religion, focusing on geology. His major work in this area was The Religion of Geology and its Connected Sciences (Boston, 1851).

The Gifford Lectures are lectures established by the will of Adam Lord Gifford. They were established to "promote and diffuse the study of Natural Theology in the widest sense of the termâ€" 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.

Bridgewater Treatises

The Earl of Bridgewater commissioned the Bridgewater Treatises:

#The Adaptation of External Nature to the Moral and Intellectual Condition of Man, by Thomas Chalmers, D. D. #The Adaptation of External Nature to the Physical Condition of Man, by John Kidd, M. D.#Astronomy and General Physics considered with reference to Natural Theology, by William Whewell, D. D. #The hand, its Mechanism and Vital Endowments as evincing Design, by Sir Charles Bell.#Animal and Vegetable Physiology considered with reference to Natural Theology, by Peter Mark Roget. #Geology and Mineralogy considered with reference to Natural Theology, by William Buckland, D.D.#The Habits and Instincts of Animals with reference to Natural Theology, by William Kirby. #Chemistry, Meteorology, and the Function of Digestion, considered with reference to Natural Theology, by William Prout, M.D.

There is also a fragment of a ninth, by Charles Babbage. There was a supplement to this, also fragmentary and posthumously published, by Thomas Hill.

A notable critic of the Bridgewater Treatises was Edgar Allan Poe, who wrote Criticism (1850)

External links

* Site offers an indepth look at the natural religion of Deism
* Apollos.ws- A Christian site surveying arguments for the existence of God and responses to common arguments against.
* Catholic Encyclopedia article Bridgewater Treatises
*Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion by David Hume

Natural theology: Encyclopedia BETA

Contents

Natural theology

Key Proponents

Bridgewater Treatises

See also

Further reading

External links