natural theology: the process

Victoria Popoola

Natural Theology: The Process

Natural Theology is a branch of theology based on reason and ordinary experience that explains God’s rational as a part of the physical worlddeals with describing nature and the existence

of God lacking special or supposed supernatural revelation

Definition…

 In about 116 -27 BC, Marcus Terentius Varro established a distinction of three kinds of theologyCivil – “the people” asking how God relates to

daily life and the stateNatural – philosophers asking for the nature of

God or godsMystical – poets crafting mythology

In the Beginning…

Natural Theology was formulated at a time where people preferred Deism. Deism is basically a theistic position based upon the

preference of natural reason over sacred revelation Only “chosen people” experienced divine revelations

High Middle AgesMade fixed part of Roman Catholic dogma in 1870

Not intended to replace faith or grace of God revealed in ChristOpportunity to establish certain truth by means

common to all

…Still the Beginning…

Thomas AquinasAdopted Aristotle’s beliefsFirst great proponent of Natural TheologySynthesized Greek philosophy and the GospelLaid groundwork for “natural law”

defined theology as a "science" in the Aristotelian sense, that is, a definable body of knowledge with its own sources, principles, methods, and content; 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

Natural Theology Advocates…

William Paley Made Natural Theology best known to

Englishmen in the 1800s How life works?Used a mechanical analogy of the world,

comparing it to a watch Design qua purpose – purpose behind the design

Describes intricacies ofhuman eye, the lacteal systems in mammals design of a bird's wing

Natural Theology Advocates

Human Eye

Lacteal System in Mammals

Bird's Wing

Charles DarwinOccupied Paley’s room at Cambridge

University1838 –1859 Natural Selection “On the Origin of

Species” Major conflict

Explaining adaptation

Opponents of Natural Theology

David Hume18th century philosopherCriticized Paley in "Dialogues concerning

Natural Religion“Argued that God of theism could not be “THE

Designer”Said designer would be capable of making

mistakes and have successesExplains imperfections

Or theory of team of gods/goddesses

Opponents of Natural Theology

Science demonstrates dynamics of nature20th century, Natural Theology out of favorMetaphysics Theory of Evolution widely acceptedSecond half of 20th century, Metaphysics and

Natural Theology ReturnPracticed with a degree of diversity and

confidence unprecedented since the late Middle Ages

Natural Theology Today

Natural Theology - deals with describing nature and the existence of God lacking special or supposed supernatural revelation.

High Middle Ages, 1870Advocates

Thomas Aquinas, William PaleyOpponents

Charles Darwin, David HumeNatural theology, more evolved today

SUMMARY

http://www.nicolaabbagnano.it/archivio_di/03.pdf http://www.helium.com/items/1119397-teleological-argument http://mb-soft.com/believe/txn/natural.htm http://books.google.com/books?id=gG_2YyDX3_YC&printsec=frontcover http://books.google.com/books?id=p-PSrKkzDCMC&printsec=frontcover https://ptx-cca-s3.net.umd.edu/auth/perfigo_weblogin.jsp?

cm=ws32vklm&uri=http%3A%2F%2Fatheism.about.com%2Fod%2Ftheology%2Fa%2Fnatural.htmcv

http://evolution.berkeley.eduhttp://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/_0/history_03

http://www.iep.utm.edu/t/theo-nat.htm#H7 http://books.google.com/ooks?id=il5LAAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage http://mb-soft.com/believe/txn/natural.htm http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/metaphysics/

References