Ramified Natural Theology in Science and Religion
Title | Ramified Natural Theology in Science and Religion PDF eBook |
Author | Rodney Holder |
Publisher | Routledge |
Pages | 214 |
Release | 2020-10-15 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 1000205789 |
This book offers a rationale for a new ‘ramified natural theology’ that is in dialogue with both science and historical-critical study of the Bible. Traditionally, knowledge of God has been seen to come from two sources, nature and revelation. However, a rigid separation between these sources cannot be maintained, since what purports to be revelation cannot be accepted without qualification: rational argument is needed to infer both the existence of God from nature and the particular truth claims of the Christian faith from the Bible. Hence the distinction between ‘bare natural theology’ and ‘ramified natural theology.’ The book begins with bare natural theology as background to its main focus on ramified natural theology. Bayesian confirmation theory is utilised to evaluate competing hypotheses in both cases, in a similar manner to that by which competing hypotheses in science can be evaluated on the basis of empirical data. In this way a case is built up for the rationality of a Christian theist worldview. Addressing issues of science, theology and revelation in a new framework, this book will be of keen interest to scholars working in Religion and Science, Natural Theology, Philosophy of Religion, Biblical Studies, Systematic Theology, and Science and Culture.
The Failure of Natural Theology
Title | The Failure of Natural Theology PDF eBook |
Author | Jeffrey D Johnson |
Publisher | New Studies in Theology Series |
Pages | 266 |
Release | 2021-09-15 |
Genre | Natural theology |
ISBN | 9781952599378 |
Aristotle's cosmological argument is the foundation of Aquinas's doctrine of God. For Thomas, the cosmological argument not only speaks of God's existence but also of God's nature. By learning that the unmoved mover is behind all moving objects, we learn something true about the essence of God-principally, that God is immobile. But therein lies the problem for Thomas. The Catholic Church had already condemned Aristotle's unmoved mover because, according to Aristotle, the unmoved mover is unable to be the moving cause (i.e., Creator) and governor of the universe-or else he would cease to be immobile. By seeking to baptize Aristotle into the Catholic Church, however, Thomas gave his life to seeking to explain how God can be both immobile and the moving cause of the universe. Thomas even looked to the pantheistic philosophy of Pseudo-Dionysius for help. But even with Dionysius's aid, Thomas failed to reconcile the god of Aristotle with the Trinitarian God of the Bible. If Thomas would have rejected the natural theology of Aristotle by placing the doctrine of the Trinity, which is known only by divine revelation, at the foundation of his knowledge of God, he would have rid himself of the irresolvable tension that permeates his philosophical theology. Thomas could have realized that the Trinity alone allows for God to be the only self-moving being-because the Trinity is the only being not moved by anything outside himself but freely capable of creating and controlling contingent things in motion.
In Defense of Natural Theology
Title | In Defense of Natural Theology PDF eBook |
Author | James F. Sennett |
Publisher | InterVarsity Press |
Pages | 337 |
Release | 2005-10-04 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 9780830827671 |
James F. Sennett and Douglas Groothuis have assembled a distinguished array of scholars to examine the Humean legacy with care and make the case for a more robust, if chastened, natural theology after Hume.
The God of Faith and Reason
Title | The God of Faith and Reason PDF eBook |
Author | Robert Sokolowski |
Publisher | CUA Press |
Pages | 196 |
Release | 1995 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 9780813208275 |
Identifies what is most radically distinctive about Christian belief. Addressed to a non-technical audience, the book helps the reader examine the most basic questions concerning Christian faith.
Why Christian Faith Still Makes Sense
Title | Why Christian Faith Still Makes Sense PDF eBook |
Author | C. Stephen Evans |
Publisher | Baker Academic |
Pages | 0 |
Release | 2015-05-19 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 9780801096600 |
In recent years the Christian faith has been challenged by skeptics, including the New Atheists, who claim that belief in God is simply not reasonable. Here prominent Christian philosopher C. Stephen Evans offers a fresh, contemporary, and nuanced response. He makes the case for belief in a personal God through an exploration of natural "signs," which open our minds to theistic possibilities and foster belief in the Christian revelation. Evans then discusses why God's self-revelation is both authoritative and authentic. This sophisticated yet accessible book provides a clear account of the evidence for Christian faith, concluding that it still makes sense to believe.
The Bible, Natural Theology and Natural Law: Conflict Or Compromise?
Title | The Bible, Natural Theology and Natural Law: Conflict Or Compromise? PDF eBook |
Author | Robert A. Morey |
Publisher | Xulon Press |
Pages | 464 |
Release | 2010-05 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 1609571436 |
Dr. Robert Morey's study of natural law and natural theology raises important questions that every Bible-believer will want answered. His careful study and explanation of various Bible passages will yield a useful orientation to the classic arguments furnished us by the Reformers and their faithful heirs. Dr. Nelson Kloosterman The present volume presents a devastating critique of natural theology and natural law. Its argument is solidly biblical, and its accumulation of biblical data is overwhelming. I hope that God prospers it so that many will read it and take heed. Dr. John Frame A.W. Tozer said, "the most important thing about any person is what comes into their mind when they think of the word God." If you digest Dr. Morey's book, you will think of 'God' as the glorious One depicted in Holy Scripture." John G. Reisinger, I appreciate Dr. Morey's emphasis on making the Bible alone the theoretical basis for science and the arts. All throughout the book he consistently points to the Scriptures as the basis for sustaining everything else. Dr. Simon Kistemaker
All That Is in God
Title | All That Is in God PDF eBook |
Author | James E. Dolezal |
Publisher | Reformation Heritage Books |
Pages | 145 |
Release | 2017-07-13 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 1601785550 |
Unknown to many, increasing numbers of conservative evangelicals are denying basic tenets of classical Christian teaching about God, with departures occurring even among those of the Calvinistic persuasion. James E. Dolezal’s All That Is in God provides an exposition of the historic Christian position while engaging with these contemporary deviations. His convincing critique of the newer position he styles “theistic mutualism” is philosophically robust, systematically nuanced, and biblically based. It demonstrates the need to maintain the traditional viewpoint, particularly on divine simplicity, and spotlights the unfortunate implications for other important Christian doctrines—such as divine eternality and the Trinity—if it were to be abandoned. Arguing carefully and cogently that “all that is in God is God Himself,” the work is sure to stimulate debate on the issue in years to come.