The growing role of natural theology

A few weeks ago I wrote a column titled “The World Is Talking to Us.” In it I refer to natural theology. This column is an expansion on the theme of natural theology.

Natural theology has a rich history. It is full of ups and downs in influence and popularity. During the middle and late 20th century, neo-orthodoxy was in vogue. Its most notable proponents put natural theology on the back burner. In the late 20th century and early 21st century the influence of natural theology has come roaring back.

And what is natural theology?

Natural theology is the pursuit of an understanding of God through reason and ordinary experience. The classic antithesis of natural theology is revealed understandings of God and life apart from reason and ordinary experience. The tradition of revealed truth was the tradition in which I was raised. The Bible was the revelation of God to human kind, or at least it was the tool to carry the revealed message of Jesus Christ, the incarnate son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity. For me, that point-of-view was not effectively challenged until graduate studies at Garrett Theological Seminary.

The faculty at Garrett was a world-class group of theologians, philosophers, sociologists, historians and Bible scholars. While studying at Garrett I had an enormous change of mind and perspective. I learned that every word of the Bible had a human (male) author, who could be fixed in history and who wrote for a particular purpose for a particular audience. Even Jesus could be fixed in time and place, and his messages could be placed in relationship to particular audiences that could be defined by social status, religious beliefs and economic circumstance.

The Bible was no longer a holy book that stood above critical study. I was handed the almost overwhelming challenge of sifting through the entire body of Bible material with a critical mind. But the challenge was even larger. A critical, inquiring mind had to pursue the significance of our world, a solar system, a galaxy and endless space.

I have been forced to natural theology for my basic understandings of life.

The first message of the natural world is that everything is in motion. Everything is evolving. Nothing is fixed. All static understandings of life are at least questionable, if not totally unacceptable. The next step is mind boggling for most. If all things are evolving, any reasonable understanding of God must be of a God who also is constantly changing. Every static understanding of God is out of sync with actual operation of the universe.

Such thinking not only brings up the names of Darwin and John Scopes, but also philosopher Alfred North Whitehead and theologians Charles Hartshorne, John Cobb Jr. and Schubert Ogden. They all have one thing in common. They are natural philosophers/theologians who take their basic understanding from observing a world in constant changing evolution.

Today there is a flood of young Americans who know that what was will never be again. In earlier days, this conclusion about the nature of life took people toward uncertainty, skepticism, agnosticism, atheism and hedonism. A new crop of thoughtful Americans is not buying the skepticism. Our new crop of thinkers is a hopeful bunch. Knowing that the evolving process brings new understandings, they are embracing the challenges that are presented by a new kind of world.

This, I believe, is the driving force behind the emergent church and proposals for a new Christianity.

In the earlier column I wrote that natural theology reveals a consequential world that sets limits on the amount of abuse human beings can heap upon it. This consequential reality sets limits, makes judgments and imposes penalties. This is not simply a physical reality. It is a spiritual message about the way we live.

Another truth we learn from natural theology is that new opportunities to do life right are always emerging. In an evolving life, the old is constantly passing away and the new is constantly arriving. The Bible message of new birthing and new beginnings is as modern as the latest electronic technology.

Darlene and I attended the college graduation of a grandson in May. In July, a grandson married. A granddaughter begins study on her Ph.D. in September. Yet another granddaughter is a university academic counselor. Then there is a granddaughter who teaches music in an elementary school. Two other grandchildren are about to enter their second year of college education. Four other grandchildren are making excellent progress on their educational journey. Natural theology says that an incredible array of creative possibilities await each of them.

And we hear a voice from the heavens say, “Behold, I make all things new.”

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister who lives in Palmer. His e-mail address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.