The Oxford Handbook of Natural Theology

The Oxford Handbook of Natural Theology is the first collection to consider the full breadth of natural theology from both historical and contemporary perspectives and to bring together leading scholars to offer accessible high-level accounts of the major themes. The volume embodies and develops the recent revival of interest in natural theology as a topic of serious critical engagement. Frequently misunderstood or polemicized, natural theology is an under-studied yet persistent and pervasive presence throughout the history of thought about ultimate reality - from the classical Greek theology of the philosophers to twenty-first century debates in science and religion. Of interest to students and scholars from a wide range of disciplines, this authoritative handbook draws on the very best of contemporary scholarship to present a critical overview of the subject area. Thirty eight new essays trace the transformations of natural theology in different historical and religious contexts, the place of natural theology in different philosophical traditions and diverse scientific disciplines, and the various cultural and aesthetic approaches to natural theology to reveal a rich seam of multi-faceted theological reflection rooted in human nature and the environments within which we find ourselves.Introduction ; I: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON NATURAL THEOLOGY ; 1. Classical Origins of Natural Theology ; 2. Natural Theology and the Christian Bible ; 3. Natural Theology in the Patristic Period ; 4. Natural Theology in the Middle Ages ; 5. Early Modern Natural Theologies ; 6. Nineteenth-Century Natural Theology ; 7. Natural Theology in the Twentieth Century ; II: THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON NATURAL THEOLOGY ; 8. Jewish Perspectives on Natural Theology ; 9. Natural Theology in Eastern Religions ; 10. Perspectives on Natural Theology from Eastern Religions ; 11. Catholic Perspectives on Natural Theology ; 12. Protestant Perspectives on Natural Theology ; 13. Natural Theology and the Eastern Orthodox Tradition ; 14. Theological Critiques of Natural Theology ; III: PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES ON NATURAL THEOLOGY ; 15. Perspectives on Natural Theology from Analytical Philosophy ; 16. A Perspective from Continental Philosophy ; 17. Process Thought and Natural Theology ; 18. The Design Argument and Natural Theology ; 19. Morality and Natural Theology ; 20. Religious Experience and Natural Theology ; 21. Postmodernity and Natural Theology ; 22. Feminist Perspectives on Natural Theology ; 23. Comparative Natural Theology ; 24. Philosophical Critique of Natural Theology ; IV: SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVES ON NATURAL THEOLOGY ; 25. Natural Theology: The Biological Sciences ; 26. Physical Sciences and Natural Theology ; 27. Chemical Sciences and Natural Theology ; 28. Mathematics and Natural Theology ; 29. Natural Theology and Ecology ; 30. Sciences of the Mind and Natural Theology ; 31. A Sociological Perspective on Natural Theology ; 32. Scientific Critiques of Natural Theology ; V: PERSPECTIVES ON NATURAL THEOLOGY FROM THE ARTS ; 33. Aesthetics and the Arts in Relation to Natural Theology ; 34. Imagination and Natural Theology ; 35. Natural Theology and Literature ; 36. Natural Theology and Music ; 37. Images in Natural Theology ; 38. The Film Viewer and Natural Theology God's "Presence" at the Movies ; Conclusion: The Future of Natural Theology