Re-Imagining Nature

Alister McGrath is currently Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford; he was previously Professor of Theology and Education at King’s College, London. He is regarded as one of the world’s leading Protestant theologians and is the author of some of the world’s most widely used theological textbooks, including the bestselling Science and Religion (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), Christianity (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015), Christian Theology (Wiley-Blackwell, 2016), and The Christian Theology Reader, (5th edition, 2016). He is in constant demand as a speaker at conferences throughout the world, especially in Southeast Asia.

• Introduction 1 1 Natural Theology: Questions of Definition and Scope 6The Aim of This Work 8A Brief Genealogy of Natural Theology 11Natural Theology: Six Approaches 18The Natural Theology Project: Thick and Thin Descriptions 22In Defense of a “Christian” Natural Theology Project 25The Christian Accommodation of Classic Natural Theology 352 Natural Theology and the Christian Imaginarium 41Sensorium and Imaginarium: Christianity and the Re-Imagination of Nature 42Modernity and the Suppression of the Imagination 47Metanoia: Seeing Things as They Really Are 50Imaginative Transformation: The Church as an Interpretive Community 55Theoria: Imaginative Beholding and Rational Dissection 57Nature as logikos: Reflections on the Doctrine of Creation 61Metaphors of Beauty and Order: Harmony and the Dance 663 Text, Image, and Sign: On Framing the Natural World 69Natural Theology as a Habitus 69The Intellectual Challenge of the Ambiguity of the World 73Nature as a Text: Natural Theology and the Book of Nature 78Nature as Image: Natural Theology and Landscapes 87Nature as a Sign: Natural Theology and Semiotics 934 Natural Theology: Contexts and Motivations 101The Importance of Cultural Location for Natural Theology 101A New Vocational Space: Natural Theology as a Religious Calling 105The Wasteland: Natural Theology and the Recovery of a Lost Nature 107Wonder and Mystery: Transcendent Experiences 110Re-Enchantment: Sustaining a Sense of Wonder 113The Rational Transparency of Nature and Faith 116Connectedness: The Human Longing for Coherence 120Meaning: Nature and Ultimate Questions 122Natural Theology as a “Natural” Quest 1245 Natural Theology: Some Concerns and Challenges 128Natural Theology: Improper and Redundant? 128Ontotheology? Natural Theology and Philosophical “First Principles” 133David Hume: The Intellectual Inadequacy of a Deist Natural Theology 135Charles Taylor: Natural Theology and the “Immanent Frame” 138Barth and Brunner: The Debate which Discredited Natural Theology? 144Fideism: Natural Theology as Self-Referential and Self-Justifying? 1496 The Promise of a Christian Natural Theology 154The Natural Sciences: Natural Theology and the Subversion of Scientism 156The Affective Imagination: Natural Theology and the Spirituality of Nature 163Boundaries and Trespass: Natural Theology and Systematic Theology 168Apologetics: Natural Theology and Public Engagement 173Conclusion 181Bibliography 184Index 240