Natural theology after Darwin
Has Darwinian science made natural theology obsolete, as many Christian scholars now believe? In this article, the author assumes that natural theology does not take place in a religious vacuum but instead borrows its sense of god from this or that specific faith tradition. Its task is not to arrive...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Afrikaans |
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AOSIS
2023-05-01
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| Series: | HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/8481 |
| _version_ | 1797814091568381952 |
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| author | John F Haught |
| author_facet | John F Haught |
| author_sort | John F Haught |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Has Darwinian science made natural theology obsolete, as many Christian scholars now believe? In this article, the author assumes that natural theology does not take place in a religious vacuum but instead borrows its sense of god from this or that specific faith tradition. Its task is not to arrive at an understanding of the divine mystery different from that of systematic or doctrinal theology. As the author shall argue here, however, the empirical grounding essential to natural theology must be considerably more comprehensive and more profound than that provided by the natural sciences, mainly because the latter usually leave out any mention of the most striking of all natural phenomena – the human mind and its mysterious operations.
The author maintains that an exclusively Darwinian narrative cannot fully explain why your mind is restless for truth or why you should trust your mind. The point of natural theology is to ask whether nature as a whole is intelligible apart from the reality of God. The author’s point is that an empirical survey of nature that restricts itself to following the modern scientific method’s habitual exclusion of thought from its survey of nature cannot succeed in making nature intelligible.
Contribution: This article argues that evolutionary explanations alone are not enough to account for all that is happening in human understanding and knowing. In the light of evolutionary biology, we must note that even human intelligence, which formerly seemed to elevate our species to a perch above nature, now appears to be an unexceptional product of chance, deep time and natural selection. ‘Thought’, the name we may give to the most splendid of all evolutionary outcomes, is taken to be a product of impersonal natural selection and so also are our moral instincts. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T08:02:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-aa03e424925848f98498ee2dbe83d261 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0259-9422 2072-8050 |
| language | Afrikaans |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T08:02:26Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | AOSIS |
| record_format | Article |
| series | HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-aa03e424925848f98498ee2dbe83d2612023-06-01T13:54:54ZafrAOSISHTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies0259-94222072-80502023-05-01792e1e510.4102/hts.v79i2.84815700Natural theology after DarwinJohn F Haught0Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Georgetown University, Washington D.C., United States; and, Department of Systematic and Historical Theology, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria, PretoriaHas Darwinian science made natural theology obsolete, as many Christian scholars now believe? In this article, the author assumes that natural theology does not take place in a religious vacuum but instead borrows its sense of god from this or that specific faith tradition. Its task is not to arrive at an understanding of the divine mystery different from that of systematic or doctrinal theology. As the author shall argue here, however, the empirical grounding essential to natural theology must be considerably more comprehensive and more profound than that provided by the natural sciences, mainly because the latter usually leave out any mention of the most striking of all natural phenomena – the human mind and its mysterious operations. The author maintains that an exclusively Darwinian narrative cannot fully explain why your mind is restless for truth or why you should trust your mind. The point of natural theology is to ask whether nature as a whole is intelligible apart from the reality of God. The author’s point is that an empirical survey of nature that restricts itself to following the modern scientific method’s habitual exclusion of thought from its survey of nature cannot succeed in making nature intelligible. Contribution: This article argues that evolutionary explanations alone are not enough to account for all that is happening in human understanding and knowing. In the light of evolutionary biology, we must note that even human intelligence, which formerly seemed to elevate our species to a perch above nature, now appears to be an unexceptional product of chance, deep time and natural selection. ‘Thought’, the name we may give to the most splendid of all evolutionary outcomes, is taken to be a product of impersonal natural selection and so also are our moral instincts.https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/8481evolutiondarwineinsteinlonergannatural theologyintelligent subjectivityhuman thoughtwider empiricism. |
| spellingShingle | John F Haught Natural theology after Darwin HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies evolution darwin einstein lonergan natural theology intelligent subjectivity human thought wider empiricism. |
| title | Natural theology after Darwin |
| title_full | Natural theology after Darwin |
| title_fullStr | Natural theology after Darwin |
| title_full_unstemmed | Natural theology after Darwin |
| title_short | Natural theology after Darwin |
| title_sort | natural theology after darwin |
| topic | evolution darwin einstein lonergan natural theology intelligent subjectivity human thought wider empiricism. |
| url | https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/8481 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT johnfhaught naturaltheologyafterdarwin |