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Natural Theology has traditionally been defined as that part of philosophy which explores that which man can know about God (his existence, divine nature, etc.) from nature, via his divinely bestowed faculty of reason; and, this, unaided by any divinely inspired written revelation. Defining Natural Theology this way seems to give value to the study of philosophy and encourages the use of philosophy in theology. Since the early 1900s, however, many Christian theologians have begun describing Natural Theology as the attempt to prove the truth of the Christian Religion, or worse, as the attempt to replace revealed truths with human ideas. These theologians often go on to claim that the only way that Natural Theology could be valuable, is if we first assume the truth of Christianity. In other words, the universe does not point to the existence of God, unless we first assume a religious position in which some God exists. Though this approach is, in Christian apologetics, often associated with Cornelius Van Til’s Presuppositionalism; it is also known, to philosophers, as Perspectivalism. Other well-known theologians who seem to have adopted this approach to Natural Theology, include Alister McGrath, Fergus Kerr, and Wolfhart Pannenberg. In their opinion, Natural Theology has no other use than to provide Christians, if it does even this, with some form of existential certitude concerning the truth of Christianity. Natural Theology most certainly does not prove Theism, let alone the truth of the Christian Religion. In this paper, I will begin with a short exposition of the positions of the contemporary theologians mentioned above. I will then attempt to refute these claims through (1) an historical exposition of the traditional approach to Natural Theology, and (2) a philosophical argument demonstrating the self-defeating nature of these claims.
Scottish Journal of Theology
The Genesis of Doctrine: a Study in the Foundations of Doctrinal Criticism. By Alister E. McGrath. Oxford, Blackwell, 1990. Pp. x + 266. £35.001992 •
Journal of Analytic Theology
William J. Abraham and Frederick D. Aquino. The Oxford Handbook of the Epistemology of TheologyReviews in Religion & Theology
New Proposals on Theological Apologetics - Faith and Its Critics: A Conversation - By David Ferguson; The Command of Grace: A New Theological Apologetics - By Paul D. Janz; Theology in Search of Foundations - By Randal Rauser2010 •
2021 •
The Doctrine of God is an introductory textbook aiming to provide a clear and concise introduction to the doctrine of God by addressing some big questions concerning divine attributes and the God-world relationship in mainly recent Christian theology. More precisely the book provides an issue-focused presentation on selected contemporary perspectives. The book in its coverage is however not limited only to recent Christian debates, but frequently features also philosophical and historical voices which complement the debates. The book is therefore not a book in historical theology, or philosophical theology, but rather a book in systematic theology proper covering the contemporary debates relating to major questions surrounding the doctrine of God. Since the book is framed as an introductory textbook its readership is assumed to be mostly students of theology. Given the level of the presented material, its dense and detailed nature will primary be most beneficial to graduate level (p...
Journal of Analytic Theology
The Oxford Handbook of the Epistemology of Theology2019 •
Analytic theology has, since its inception, been a metaphysics-heavy enterprise. Indeed, a brief perusal of the contents of The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Theology (i.e. a predecessor to the present volume under review) reveals as much. My noting this emphasis on metaphysics is not a criticism, for the fruits of Christian analytic metaphysics have been widespread indeed. Nevertheless, developments in epistemology have been at least as significant in many respects as those in metaphysics, and thus, the comparative rarity with which they emerge in discussion in contemporary theology is unfortunate. Such a lament, however, has in recent times become less apt, for with the release of The Oxford Handbook of the Epistemology of Theology, we now have a text which ably introduces its audience of theologians, scriptural scholars, and philosophers to a broad class of epistemological concerns for theology. No one writing in analytic theology should remain wholly ignorant of its contents, which hail from many of the best epistemological and theological minds today.
2015 •
Holy Spirit and Christian Mission in a Pluralistic Context (Bangalore: SAIACS Press)
Third Article Theology and Apologetics2017 •
My paper argues that the loss of transcendence from a culture is maximally a loss of the Holy Spirit. After all, unlike the Holy Spirit, the other two members of the Trinity have a visible trail—the Father, his created order (natural theology) and the Son his historical presence (Theology of redemption). Whereas, the self-effacing Holy Spirit is “neither seen nor known” by the world (John 14:17) or by the Church that succumbs to the spirit of the age. In short, the cultural influence of naturalism has left the church Spirit-impoverished. Thus, I explore how we may recover this loss and prioritize the Spirit? If we looked carefully, a Spirit priority seems to follow the structure of function within the economic Trinity. That is, while the Trinitarian order follows the Father sending the Son to complete the work of redemption followed by the sending of the Spirit to sanctify the Church, human encounter seems to always require an inverse Trinitarian order. It is the Spirit who testifies to the Lordship of Christ, for “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3), and it is in Jesus in whom the “whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col 2:9), that we see the face of the Father (John 14:9). Exploring the epistemic role of the Spirit, I conclude that the Spirit is the epistemic agency as well as the starting point in turning the Christian message into an intelligible account for anyone who hears it. Given the self-effacing nature of the Spirit who points humans towards Christ, who in turn points us towards the Father, a Spirit priority inherently provides a Trinitarian mould for theological thinking and practice.
International journal for the Study of the Christian Church
Review of Imaginative Apologetics. Theology, Philosophy and the Catholic Tradition2012 •
Alliance for Vulnerable Mission Bulletin, May 2024.
The Ground is Deeper: review of - Anthropology as Ethics: nondualism and the conduct of sacrifice.2024 •
2020 •
Cinémas: Revue d'études cinématographiques
METZ, Christian. L’Énonciation impersonnelle ou le site du film. Paris : Méridiens Klincksieck, 1991, 228 p1993 •
Attorno a Dante, Petrarca, Boccaccio: la lingua italiana. I primi trent’anni dell’Istituto CNR Opera del Vocabolario Italiano: 1985-2015. Atti del Convegno internazionale (Firenze, 16-17 dicembre 2015), a cura di Lino Leonardi e Marco Maggiore, pp. 73-86
Una collaborazione recente: il Lessico Etimologico Italiano2016 •
https://www.firstpost.com/
No, Mr Obama! Minorities in India are not exploited by Hindu 'majority'2023 •
Malaysian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities
Pengaruh Pemikiran Reka Bentuk ke atas Keusahawanan Sosial dalam kalangan Pelajar Universiti Awam2022 •
Seropédica: Embrapa Agrobiologia, 2011.
Emissões de N2O provenientes da aplicação de uréia e sulfato de amônio em um argissolo cultivado com capim-elefante2011 •
Machine Learning
Chunking in Soar: The anatomy of a general learning mechanism1986 •
Clinical Neurophysiology
P300 Influence of rTMS with high and low frequency stimulation on motor and executive function in Parkinson’s disease. Follow-up study for half year2017 •
EPRA International Journal of Economic and Business Review
Impact of Mgnrega on Rural Livelihoods of Ballari District2019 •
European journal of clinical pharmacology
Improved adherence to statin treatment and differences in results between men and women after pictorial risk communication—a sub-study of the VIPVIZA RCT2024 •
동인천출장샵-카톡;MS19 ▷동인천출장안마#!동인천콜걸샵#!동인천모텔출장[sod30점넷]동인천출장아가씨 ヴ 동인천출장만남 #! 동인천출장아가씨 #! 동인천출장마사지
동인천출장샵-카톡;MS19 ▷동인천출장안마#!동인천콜걸샵#!동인천모텔출장[sod30점넷]동인천출장아가씨 ヴ 동인천출장만남 #! 동인천출장아가씨 #! 동인천출장마사지2019 •
2004 •
Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology
U22, a Protocol to Quantify Symptoms Associated with Supraventricular Tachycardia2009 •