Natural Theology

 "theology or knowledge of God based on observed facts and experience apart from divine revelation."

 

Why should this topic matter to you? 

Good question. You might answer that it doesn't matter to you, or you don't find it interesting. You may find yourself curious about this topic, and not really know why. You may have heard this term used before by a pastor or bible teacher and you didn't really understand it's relevance.  

There may be some other reason you do or do not wish to learn more about natural theology. I encourage you to at least ask and answer the above question. Then you can quit reading or read on based on your answer.

The first point I'd like to make about natural theology is that concern for it is at the heart of Luther's reformation movement. It's an over simplification to think Luther was only rebuking the Pope, the practice of indulgences and the Catholic church's view of confession. Natural theology grew precipitously from Thomas Aquinas until Luther and more surprising to me, has dominated Protestant orthodoxy since.

The second point I'd wish to offer you is that natural theology is birthed and shaped in human nature. If you believe the doctrine of total depravity (as Luther did), then you would agree with me that "if something I think comes naturally to me from my observations, then it is not what God is saying to me." Luther believed that unless something is revealed to you by the Holy Spirit, it is not of God. In Luther's view, Paul was expounding a revealed theology and discounted a natural theology. This is best represented in Romans 8 where Paul is unpacking the idea of "walking according to the Spirit" vs. "walking according to the flesh (human nature)."

The third point I have found fascinating about this topic is how much Paul's message to the church is a rebuke of Greek philosophy, which came before Christ, and how much Aquinas, as the first western Christian philosopher, based his theology on Aristotle with a nice spin from the Bible. Using cause and effect models and assuming man has the ability to reason God from what he/she observes comes straight from Aristotle and thru the medieval Scholastics exemplified by Aquinas. 

The last point I'll make here (but in no way is the end of this discussion) is that seeking the moral high ground is not what Jesus claims for us in the Gospel. Building a just society flows from mankind's natural obsession with justice and not from Jesus' teaching on righteousness. Jesus had His harshest words for the moralists. I'll leave this here since I've blogged often on Christian morality as an oxymoron.

While there are volumes written on natural theology and I could certainly expound more in this blog, I'll end by saying this, 

much of the struggle Christians have on topics such as election, righteousness, suffering, forgiveness, the Trinity, created in the image of God, “free will,” repentance, heaven and earth, civics, economics, prosperity, and such is because natural theology is so prevalent in sermons and bible teaching, even of the most fervent evangelical churches.

You may not know any more about natural theology or its risks than you did before this blog. If you made it this far you should certainly make a point to study this topic until God's grace overwhelms you with how this thinking separates you from Him and makes your testimony off target. My biggest concern is how natural theology may be the root cause or core influence on why church is more of a giant therapy session than worship of the King, why there are many joyless Christians, and why many young Christians abandon their faith as adults.

That's all  ....