Concept
Natural theology
Overview
Natural theology is a type of theology that seeks to provide arguments for theological topics, such as the existence of a deity, based on human reason. It is distinguished from revealed theology, which is based on supernatural sources such as scripture or religious experiences. It is thus a form of theology open to critical examination, aimed at understanding the divine.
Natural theology does not preclude the concept of divine intervention nor presuppose a clockwork universe; however, it demands that any position be supported through reasoned arguments based on natural reason.
In contemporary philosophy, natural theology is not limited to approaches based on empirical facts, such as natural phenomena, nor are its conclusions limited to pantheism. It was once also termed "physico-theology".
Natural theology includes theology based on scientific discoveries, arguments for God's existence grounded in observed natural facts, and interpretations of natural phenomena or complexities as evidence of a divine plan (see predestination) or God's Will. It also includes efforts to explain the nature of celestial motors, gods, or a supreme god responsible for heavenly motion. Natural theologians have offered their own explanations for some unsolved problems in science.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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Natural theology is such a concept at the boundary of human reason, being constrained to look beyond this boundary to the Idea of a Supreme Being (and, for practical purposes to that of an intelligible world also), not in order to determine anything relatively to this pure creation of the understanding, which lies beyond the world of sense, but in order to guide the use of reason within it according to principles of…
Immanuel Kant, Kant's Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics
States what Natural theology is; the author is tied to Natural theology in the knowledge graph.
1. _That the question of natural theology is to be discussed with those philosophers who sought a more excellent wisdom_. We shall require to apply our mind with far greater intensity to the present question than was requisite in the solution and unfolding of the questions handled in the preceding books; for it is not with ordinary men,…
of Hippo Augustine, The City of God, Volume I
States what Natural theology is; the author is tied to Natural theology in the knowledge graph.
IV. In natural theology, where we think of an object—God—which never can be an object of intuition to us, and even to himself can never be an object of sensuous intuition, we carefully avoid attributing to his intuition the conditions of space and time—and intuition all his cognition must be, and not thought, which always includes limitation. But with what right can we do this if we make them forms of objects as…
Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Pure Reason
States what Natural theology is; the author is tied to Natural theology in the knowledge graph.
Philosophers who discussed Natural theology
- Udayana
- Antony Flew
- Pierre Louis Maupertuis
- A. J. Ayer
- Christian Wolff (philosopher)
- William Whewell
- Leo Strauss
- Thomas Aquinas
- Michel Weber
- Al-Kindi
- Jean Bodin
- Thomas Reid
- Charles Babbage
- Charles Hartshorne
- David Hume
- The Age of Reason
- Louis de Bonald
- William Derham
- Paul Moser
- Raymond of Sabunde
- God and Other Minds
- Angelo Pirotta
Related ideas
- Jesus
- Animal
- Avicenna
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
- Laws (dialogue)
- Philosophy
- Hesiod
- The Book of Healing
- Immanuel Kant
- Intelligent design
- Republic (Plato)
- Ancient Greek philosophy
- Early Islamic philosophy
- Stoicism
- Watchmaker analogy
- Monotheism
- Augustine of Hippo
- Thomas Aquinas
- Anselm of Canterbury
- Old Testament
- Karl Barth
- Plato
- Pantheism
- Kalam
Opposing perspectives
Place in the tradition
Part of British philosophy.