Natural theology is the project of articulating, defending and CntlClzmg arguments for the existence and nature of God without the aid of special revelation. Philosophical theology, which employs the rational methods of natural theology, is not restricted to premises that are discernible through observation and reason; it may rightly employ premises that are knowable through special revelation. While the project of natural theology may be construed as an attempt to demonstrate God's existence, one cannot ignore the importance of using reason or experience to understand, determine or assess attributes. One will want to know at the conclusion of a proof in natural God's theology if one has proved the existence of God and not merely the prim urn mobilum, source of moral obligation or a committee of finite designers; while God may be the prime mover and designer of the cosmos, none of these attributes alone is sufficient for making a claim to divinity. It is, therefore, difficult to distinguish sharply the project of natural theology from philosophi cal theology. The project of classical natural theology has been the attempt to prove God's existence and nature with arguments that employ premises that all rational creatures are obliged to accept.

Klappentext

This volume contains important contributions to the recent renaissance of natural and philosophical theology by prominent and innovative theistic philosophers including Alvin Plantinga, William Alston, Marilyn McCord, Adams, Norman Kretzmann, Richard Swinburne, Nicholas Wolterstorff and George Schlesinger. The essays on natural theology include a discussion by Kretzmann and Plantinga of the necessity of evidence for the rational acceptance of belief in God. Alston and Peter Forrest defend the rationality of belief in God informed by recent developments in philosophy. In an essay favorably reminiscent of Anselm and Butler, Swinburne defends the rationality of revelation. The essays on philosophical theology include discussions of methodological issues raised by doctrines of divine simplicity, God's knowledge and the suffering of God by Wolterstorff, Tom Flint and Kelly James Clark. Adams and Schlesinger defend substantive views concerning the nature of God and man in their discussions of the doctrine of eternal punishment.

Inhalt
One The Rationality of Religious Belief.- 1. Evidence Against Anti-Evidentialism.- 2. Epistemic Probability and Evil.- Two The Rational Grounds of Religious Belief.- 3. Reference and the Refutation of Naturalism.- 4. The Place of Experience in the Grounds of Religious Belief.- Three Reason and Relevation.- 5. Revelation.- Four The Attributes of God.- 6. Divine Simplicity.- 7. Prophecy, Freedom and Middle Knowledge.- 8. Hold Not Thy Peace At My Tears: Methodological Reflections on Divine Impassibility.- Five Divine Benevolence and the Problem of Eternal Punishment.- 9. Julian of Norwich on the Tender Loving Care of Mother Jesus.- 10. The Scope of Human Autonomy.- List of Contributors.