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Natural Theology: The Process. Victoria Popoola. Definition…. Natural Theology is a branch of theology based on reason and ordinary experience that explains God’s rational as a part of the physical world - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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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