The Failure of Natural Theology

The Failure of Natural Theology
Author: Jeffrey D Johnson
Publisher: New Studies in Theology Series
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2021-09-15
Genre: Natural theology
ISBN: 9781952599378


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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.

The Failure of Natural Theology
Language: en
Pages: 266
Authors: Jeffrey D Johnson
Categories: Natural theology
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-09-15 - Publisher: New Studies in Theology Series

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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 a
A Natural History of Natural Theology
Language: en
Pages: 265
Authors: Helen De Cruz
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2024-06-11 - Publisher: MIT Press

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An examination of the cognitive foundations of intuitions about the existence and attributes of God. Questions about the existence and attributes of God form th
In Defense of Natural Theology
Language: en
Pages: 337
Authors: James F. Sennett
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 2005-10-04 - Publisher: InterVarsity Press

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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 robu
Natural Theology; Or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, Collected from the Appearances of Nature
Language: en
Pages: 384
Authors: William Paley
Categories: Natural history
Type: BOOK - Published: 1822 - Publisher:

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Natural Theology
Language: en
Pages: 209
Authors: Geerhardus Vos
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 2022-03-11 - Publisher: Reformation Heritage Books

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Biblical and natural theology may not appear to mix, but the two actually do belong together. Vos’s reputation as the father of contemporary biblical theology