Open Secret

Alister E. McGrath is Professor of Historical Theology at Oxford University and Gifford Lecturer at the University of Aberdeen for 2009. He is a world-renowned theologian, and is the author of numerous best-selling titles.

• Acknowledgments ix1 Natural Theology: Introducing an Approach 1“Nature” is an Indeterminate Concept 7Natural Theology is an Empirical Discipline 10A Christian Natural Theology Concerns the Christian God 12A Natural Theology is Incarnational, Not Dualist 14Resonance, Not Proof: Natural Theology and Empirical Fit 15Beyond Sense-Making: The Good, the True, and the Beautiful 18Part I The Human Quest for the Transcendent: The Context for Natural Theology 212 The Persistence of the Transcendent 23Natural Theology and the Transcendent 28The Triggers of Transcendent Experiences 33The Transcendent and Religion 363 Thinking About the Transcendent: Three Recent Examples 41Iris Murdoch: The Transcendent and the Sublime 46Roy Bhaskar: The Intimation of Meta-Reality 50John Dewey: The Curious Plausibility of the Transcendent 534 Accessing the Transcendent: Strategies and Practices 59Ascending to the Transcendent from Nature 60Seeing the Transcendent Through Nature 66Withdrawing from Nature to Find the Transcendent Within Oneself 69Discerning the Transcendent in Nature 735 Discernment and the Psychology of Perception 80Perception is Brain-Based 84Perception Involves Dynamic Mental Structures 86Perception is Egocentric and Enactive 92Perception Pays Attention to Significance 98Perception Can Be Modulated by Motivation and Affect 102Human Perception and Natural Theology 105Conclusion to Part I 110Part II The Foundations of Natural Theology: Ground-Clearing and Rediscovery 1136 The Open Secret: The Ambiguity of Nature 115The Mystery of the Kingdom: Jesus of Nazareth and the Natural Realm 117The Levels of Nature: The Johannine “I am” Sayings 126Gerard Manley Hopkins on “Seeing” Nature 1337 A Dead End? Enlightenment Approaches to Natural Theology 140The Enlightenment and its Natural Theologies: Historical Reflections 141The Multiple Translations and Interpretations of the “Book of Nature” 147The Flawed Psychological Assumptions of the Enlightenment 156The Barth–Brunner Controversy (1934) and Human Perception 158Enlightenment Styles of Natural Theology: Concluding Criticisms 1658 A Christian Approach to Natural Theology 171On “Seeing” Glory: The Prologue to John’s Gospel 172A Biblical Example: The Call of Samuel 174The Christian Tradition as a Framework for Natural Theology 177Natural Theology and a Self-Disclosing God 179Natural Theology and an Analogy Between God and the Creation 185Natural Theology and the Image of God 190Natural Theology and the Economy of Salvation 198Natural Theology and the Incarnation 209Conclusion to Part II 216Part III Truth, Beauty, and Goodness: An Agenda for a Renewed Natural Theology 2199 Truth, Beauty, and Goodness: Expanding the Vision for Natural Theology 22110 Natural Theology and Truth 232Resonance, Not Proof: Natural Theology and Sense-Making 233The Big Picture, Not the Gaps: Natural Theology and Observation of the World 238Natural Theology, Counterintuitive Thinking, and Anthropic Phenomena 240Natural Theology and Mathematics: A “Natural” Way of Representing Reality 245Truth, Natural Theology, and Other Religious Traditions 248On Retrieving the Richness of Truth 252Truth and a Natural Theology of the Imagination 25511 Natural Theology and Beauty 261Recovering the Place of Beauty in Natural Theology 262The Neglect of Beauty: The “Deconversion” of John Ruskin 265Hugh Miller on the Aesthetic Deficiencies of Sense-Making 268John Ruskin and the Representation of Nature 271The Beauty of Theoretical Representations of Nature 273Beauty, Awe, and the Aesthetic Engagement with Nature 277Aesthetics and the “Seeing” of Beauty 280Beauty, Natural Theology, and Christian Apologetics 28212 Natural Theology and Goodness 291The Moral Vision of Reality 292Natural Theology and Natural Law 294The Eternal Return of Natural Law 297The Moral Ambivalence of Nature 300The Knowability of Goodness in Nature 306The Discernment of Goodness: The Euthyphro Dilemma 310Conclusion to Part III 31213 Conclusion 314Bibliography 316Index 366

?Unlike many working in the sciencetheology field, McGrath makes a real effort to address issues of biblical criticism, which gives his work some significant depth, as he incorporates an engagement with the Jesus of history and an application of this to contemporary understandings of natural theology.? ( Reviews in Science and Religion, May 2009) "I tried out his NT approach in a Bible study on one of the 'miracles of creation' with a group of mainly young adults to see if his stratified view of the natural world would 'prove' to be more convincing in this context: it certainly helped." (Science and Christian Belief, April 2009)?McGrath seeks to develop a specifically Christian approach to natural theology, anchoring it in the Christ event, and interpreting natural theology as something that is both historically located in the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth and theologically interpreted by the church.? (New Testament Abstracts, January 2009)?As we have come to expect from McGrath, the book is historically well-researched, conversant with recent literature, theologically creative, and carefully argued. It will certainly reshape contemporary discussions of natural theology and natural law.? (Religious Studies Review, March 2009)"McGrath's book starts from distinctively Christian Trinitarian theology and then develops what the author sees as ways for Christian beliefs to create a means of seeing nature with a new sense of vision?with the purpose of understanding the connections between Christian belief and natural science. It is extremely well-researched and footnoted, with an extensive bibliography of sources cited. Summing Up: Recommended." (CHOICE)"The book is learned, covering a great deal of historical ground." (First Things)