Simply Natural: Three Reasons We Need Natural Theology
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An old acquaintance of mine recently published a book-length attack on natural theology. The book’s cover includes a painting of Thomas Aquinas, the target of the book’s attempted critique, except the author defaced the painting by blacking out Aquinas’s eyes. What is the point of the cheeky vandalism on the picture? The author concludes that Aquinas and the generations of faithful Christians before and since him who hold to a classical view of natural theology’s legitimacy as a vox Dei, voice of God, in nature are blind. There may be two books of God’s self-revelation, the Bible and nature, but the latter is not what Christians have long thought it was. According to the author, Aquinas, and by extension all classical theists are not seeing things as they really are. Instead, Aquinas and those who hold views like his are misreading and misleading others concerning natural theology. So, what is the author’s solution to the problems he has with Aquinas? What he and others of the same “extreme Calvinist camp”[i] he represents argue for is a variation of the presuppositionalism that Cornelius Van Til and like-minded representatives from within a narrow slice of the Reformed camp include in their constellation of beliefs about God, man, and salvation. I know this firsthand, as one who for two decades affirmed and taught those same views. While it is beyond the scope of what I write here to develop fully those views and why I left them (see my forthcoming book with Moral Apologetics Press entitled Leaving Calvinism, Finding Grace for more on that score), what I do hope to offer in short compass is why natural theology in its classical theist form is nothing close to an instance of the blind leading the blind. Rather, the approach to natural theology historically appreciated and taught within orthodox Christianity is illuminating and helpful, even essential to a full-orbed and robust doctrine of divine revelation. In the end, it is those who think Aquinas and those like him are blind that cannot see. Here, then, are three fundamental reasons we need natural theology as classically understood to help us better see God’s gracious revelation. I will use the acrostic SEE to frame my remaining presentation.
S - Scripture teaches that God speaks through nature and that all can and do hear the message as it resounds in natural theology. My point here is two-fold, and both are essential to a classical theist view of our topic. First, God speaks through nature vis-à-vis creation (cf. Ps. 19), the conscience (what John Henry Newman describes as the “aboriginal vicar of Christ”;[ii] cf. Rom. 1), and judicial sentiment (which is our sense of when others have done wrong to us; cf. Rom. 2). This should not be a point of real dispute, as all who read the Bible find its teaching clearly put forth on these matters. However, the second aspect of my point is that all can and do hear the message of nature, conscience, and judicial sentiment. It on this point that the divergence of opinion arises between the classical theists and those of the Van Tillian persuasion. While both groups know the message is broadcast by God, the latter conclude that the effect of sin on the mind of man reaches so far to make him deaf to it but accountable for it. God speaks, man can’t hear it, but God still holds man accountable for not receiving the message. The view of classical theism is not that the effects of the fall are without pernicious effect but that the prevenient grace of a loving God has efficaciously enabled all persons to hear and understand what natural theology communicates. This is because the fall of man into sin is not greater than the love of God for man. Yes, the fall has marred the image of God, but it has not erased it. Further, through His work of prevenient grace in natural theology (among other means), God has taken the first move in bringing man back into His family. Since God “making the first move” is so fundamental to “extreme Calvinists,” this should be a point of celebrated unity. At least it should be.
E – Evangelism and its counterpart, apologetics, issue forth from natural theology. One need only look at Paul’s message in Acts 17 as he presented the gospel on Mars Hill in Athens to find the interweaving of evangelism, apologetics, and natural theology. Undeniably, Paul’s appeal to natural theology as a segue to the proclamation of Christ’s resurrection and future judgment of the world occupies most of his message. Amazingly, out of the ten verses in Paul’s message totaling 269 words, eight deal with themes from general revelation, accounting for a whopping total of 218 of the 269 words. Here is a breakdown of how Paul uses natural theology and pagan culture in his message.
1. There is an innate human sense of the divine. (vv. 22-23)
2. God is Creator. (v. 24)
3. God is sovereign. (v. 24)
4. God is not an idol. (vv. 24-25; v. 29)
5. God is the source of all life. (v. 25)
6. God is the origin of all peoples and nations. (v. 26)
7. God is personal and directs history. (v. 26)
8. God is immanent. (v. 27)
9. Known poetry from pagan culture provides a reference to God. (v. 28)
10. God is the source and sustainer of all life. (v. 28)[iii]
We see here how Paul begins with a universal human sense of the divine, appeals to creation and conscience, and concludes with the gospel. Without natural theology where would Paul’s message have started and how would it have progressed? Thankfully for classic theists, the Bible does contain this example, and its not the exception but a frequent pattern in Pauline apologetics. I can see it. Why can’t those who think Aquinas and others are blind?
E – Ethical considerations which lay at the heart of human experience are inextricably tied to natural theology.[iv] To summarize and focus on a particular aspect of what I said above, two of the three means by which natural theology communicates God’s message have to do with ethical concerns, with morality. The human conscience and judicial sentiment are not obliterated by the fall nor are they unable to hear. Rather, in keeping with the biblical account and the philosophically rich history of human morality and its divine intimations, natural theology in its axiological (i.e., having to do with ethics) dimension is an open causeway from darkness to light, a starting place to speak to those outside the family of faith as we invite them into the living room of the Father’s home. When we recognize that a shared moral sense, even when it is darkly colored and warped in its expression, remains a part of every person as the common thread of our co-existence we begin to see the importance of the classical theist’s claim of the light available to all in natural theology. Far from leading to blindness, the conscience cannot escape the irradiant light of God’s brightness and the revelation of His goodness. While I don’t think that Aquinas should have his eyes blacked out, it does seem to me that someone else is not seeing the true picture of God that emerges from morality as expressed in natural theology.
[i] A paraphrase drawn from Norman Geisler’s book, Chosen but Free: A Balanced View of God’s Sovereignty and Free Will (Bethany House, 2010).
[ii] Letter to the Duke of Norfolk
[iii] Adapted from my previously published article, “Proclaiming Faith from the Pulpit: The Essential Relationship between Preaching and Apologetics” in Aletheias 4.1 (Spring 2019), p. 71.
[iv] Such ethical consideration are prime motivators for the work of MoralApologetics.com and like-minded ministries such as BellatorChristi.com,
Dr. Thomas J. Gentry (aka., TJ Gentry) serves as the pastor of First Christian Church of West Frankfort, Illinois, the Executive Editor of MoralApologetics.com, and Executive VP of Bellator Christi Ministries. Dr. Gentry is a world-class scholar holding 5 doctorate degrees and 6 masters degrees. Additionally, he is a prolific writer as he has published 7 books including Pulpit Apologist, Absent from the Body, Present with the Lord, and You Shall Be My Witnesses: Reflections on Sharing the Gospel. Be on the lookout for two additional books that he will soon publish. In addition to his impressive resume, Dr. Gentry proudly served his country as an officer in the United States Army and serves as a martial arts instructor.
