Natural Theology

Definition and Meaning

Natural theology is the branch of theology concerned with what can be known about God through the order of the natural world and through human reason and conscience, without relying on specially given revelation such as Scripture. The term is often paired with "general revelation," the idea that God reveals himself to all people through creation. By contrast, revelation through Scripture and Jesus Christ is called "special revelation." The two terms are sometimes distinguished: general revelation refers to what God discloses, whereas natural theology refers to the discipline in which human beings use reason to organize what has been disclosed.

Biblical and Historical Background

The following passages are frequently cited in discussions of natural theology:

• Psalm 19:1 ("The heavens declare the glory of God")
• Romans 1:18–25
• Romans 2:14–15
• Acts 17:22–31, the passage in which Paul, preaching at the Areopagus in Athens, took as his points of departure an altar inscribed "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD" and the words of Greek poets.

In the Middle Ages, Thomas Aquinas set forth the "Five Ways," rational arguments for the existence of God. In England in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, William Paley advanced the "argument from design": just as a watch implies a watchmaker, the intricacy of nature points to a designer. At the First Vatican Council (1870), the Catholic Church taught that God can be known with certainty by the natural light of human reason.

The Reformer John Calvin held that human beings possess a "sense of the divine" and that God's handiwork is displayed in creation. At the same time, he maintained that because of sin, people cannot rightly know God apart from Scripture. In 1934, in a debate with Emil Brunner, Karl Barth forcefully rejected natural theology in his essay Nein! ("No!").

Practice in the Korean Church

In the Korean church, the term "general revelation" is more commonly used than "natural theology."

Most Presbyterians follow chapter 1 of the Westminster Confession of Faith, which holds that the light of nature and the works of creation and providence manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, yet are not sufficient to give the knowledge necessary for salvation. Reformed seminaries have taught the apologetics of Cornelius Van Til, a theologian who criticized arguments that take human reason as their starting point.

Methodist and Holiness churches that follow Wesleyan theology tend to explain conscience and the natural knowledge of God as the fruit of prevenient grace, which God extends to all people in advance.

In preaching and evangelism, introducing the Creator by pointing to the order of nature or the mystery of life is a widely used approach. The argument from design also appears frequently in the creation and evolution debate.