Alistair McGrath’s View on Natural Theology: A Critical Study

Document Type : Original Research

Authors
Javad Gholipoor 1
Yousef Daneshvar Niloo 2
1 Ph. D. Graduate in Islamic Theology, Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute, Qom, Iran.
2 Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy of Religion and Islamic Theology, Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute, Qom, Iran.
10.30497/prr.2024.244968.1854
Abstract
Natural theology, as opposed to revealed theology, refers to rational reflection on the existence and nature of God, and has long been tied to arguments for God's existence. Alister McGrath, a Christian theologian, critiques natural theology and, through offering a new interpretation, applies it within the interactive relationship between science and theology. The central question of this paper is: what are the characteristics of McGrath’s understanding of natural theology, and what criticisms can be made of it? McGrath views natural theology as a product of non-Christian factors, such as biblical criticism, the rise of the mechanistic worldview, etc. He argues that the Bible does not support natural theology, and its use undermines divine revelation and other core Christian beliefs. He then reconstructs natural theology within the framework of Christian beliefs, especially the “doctrine of creation”. Since this theology incorporates religious presuppositions, McGrath contends that using it to prove the existence of God is circular, and it can only address the boundary questions of science. In his critique of Enlightenment natural theology, McGrath mistakenly conflates it with deism and incorrectly attributes many theological challenges of the Enlightenment to the use of natural theology. Due to his imprecise conception of natural theology, McGrath denies any historical precedent for the use of this theology in Christianity. Furthermore, the path he takes in defining nature leads to relativism, and his efforts to reconstruct natural theology seem futile, as all the functions he expects from this theology are already embedded in his definition of nature.
Keywords
natural theology
Alister McGrath
Christian theology
science and theology
scientific theology
Subjects
The Holy Bible.
Alston, William P. 1993. Perceiving God: The epistemology of Religious Experience. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
Barbour, Ian G. 1990. Religion and Science: Historical and Contemporary Issues. SanFrancisco: Harper Collins Publishers.
Betts, C. L. 1984. Early Deism in France. Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
Brown, Colin. 2013. Philosophy and The Christian Faith. Translated by Tatevos Mikaelian. Tehran: Intisharat-i ʿIlmi va Farhangi. (In Persian)
Copleston, Frederick. 2009. A History of Philosophy, Vol. 2. Translated by Ibrahim Dadjoo. Tehran: Intisharat-i ʿIlmi va Farhangi. (In Persian)
Copleston, Fredrick. 1993. History of Philosophy, Vol. 2. New York: Image books.
Dew, J. K. 2011. Science and Theology: An Assessment of Alister McGrath's Critical Realist Perspective. Wipf and Stock Publishers.
Fales, Evan. 1996. “Plantinga's Case against Naturalistic Epistemology." Philosophy of Science 63(3): 432-451.
Geivett, Douglas, and Brendan Sweetman. 1992. Contemporary Perspectives on Religious Epistemology. New York: Oxford University Press.
Grenz, Stanly, and Roger Olson. 2011. 20th-Century Theology: God and the World in a Transitional Age. Translated by Robert Asrian and Michel Aghamalian. Tehran: Mahi Publication. (In Persian)
Jimack, Peter. 2022. “The French Enlightenment II: Deism, Morality and Politics.” In Routledge History of Philosophy, Vol. 5. Translated by Ali Moazzami. Tehran: Cheshmeh Publication. (In Persian)
Kretzmann, Norman. 1992. "Evidence against Anti-Evidentialism." In Our Knowledge of God: Essays on Natural and Philosophical Theology, edited by Kelly James Clark. Springer Science Business Media B.V.
Matthews, Gareth B. 2002. Augustine: On the Trinity Books 8-15. Cambridge University Press.
Maydole, Robert. 2009. “The Ontological Argument.” In The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology, edited by William Lane Craig and J. P. Moreland. Blackwell.
McGrath, Alister E. 2001. A Scientific Theology, Volume 1: Nature. Edinburgh: T&T Clark.
McGrath, Alister E. 2004. The Science of God. London: T&T Clark.
McGrath, Alister E. 2008. The Open Secret: A New Vision for Natural Theology. Blackwell.
McGrath, Alister E. 2010. Science & Religion: A New Introduction. John Wiley & Sons.
McGrath, Alister E. 2011. Darwinism and the Divine. John Wiley & Sons.
McGrath, Alister E. 2017. Re-Imagining Nature: The Promise of a Christian Natural Theology. John Wiley & Sons.
McGrath, Alister E. 2021. Christian Theology: An Introduction, Vol. 1. Translated by Behrouz Haddadi. Qom: University of Religions and Denominations. (In Persian)
Murphy, Nancey C. 1997. Reconciling Theology and Science: A Radical Reformation Perspective. Kitchener: Pandora Press.
Myers, Benjamin. 2006. “Alister McGrath's Scientific Theology.” In The Order of Things: Explorations in Scientific Theology, edited by Alister E. McGrath. Blackwell.
Paley, William. 2006. Natural Theology: Or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity Collected from the Appearances of Nature. Oxford University Press.
Plantinga, Alvin. 1967. God and Other Minds: A Study of the Rational Justification of Belief in God. Cornell University Press.
Plantinga, Alvin. 1977. God, Freedom, and Evil. New York: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
Plantinga, Alvin. 1992. “Is Belief in God Properly Basic.” In Contemporary Perspectives on Religious Epistemology, edited by Douglas Geivett and Brendan Sweetman. Oxford University Press.
Polkinghorne, John C. 2006. Science and Creation. Philadelphia and London: Templeton Foundation Press.
Taheri Akerdi, Mohammad Hossein. 2011. Judaism. Qom: Al-Mustafa Publication. (In Persian)
Taliaferro, Charles. 2009. “The Project of Natural Theology.” In The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology, edited by William Lane Craig and J. P. Moreland. Blackwell.
Todd, D. D. 1996. “Plantinga and the Naturalized Epistemology of Thomas Reid.” Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review/Revue canadienne de philosophie 35(1): 93-108.
Philosophy of Religion Research
Volume 22, Issue 2 - Serial Number 44
November 2024
Pages 177-198