Re–Imagining Nature – The Promise of a Christian Natural Theology

<p>Introduction 1</p>
<p>1 Natural Theology: Questions of Definition and Scope 6</p>
<p>The Aim of This Work 8</p>
<p>A Brief Genealogy of Natural Theology 11</p>
<p>Natural Theology: Six Approaches 18</p>
<p>The Natural Theology Project: Thick and Thin Descriptions 22</p>
<p>In Defense of a Christian Natural Theology Project 25</p>
<p>The Christian Accommodation of Classic Natural Theology 35</p>
<p>2 Natural Theology and the Christian Imaginarium 41</p>
<p>Sensorium and Imaginarium: Christianity and the Re–Imagination of Nature 42</p>
<p>Modernity and the Suppression of the Imagination 47</p>
<p>Metanoia: Seeing Things as They Really Are 50</p>
<p>Imaginative Transformation: The Church as an Interpretive Community 55</p>
<p>Theoria: Imaginative Beholding and Rational Dissection 57</p>
<p>Nature as logikos: Reflections on the Doctrine of Creation 61</p>
<p>Metaphors of Beauty and Order: Harmony and the Dance 66</p>
<p>3 Text, Image, and Sign: On Framing the Natural World 69</p>
<p>Natural Theology as a Habitus 69</p>
<p>The Intellectual Challenge of the Ambiguity of the World 73</p>
<p>Nature as a Text: Natural Theology and the Book of Nature 78</p>
<p>Nature as Image: Natural Theology and Landscapes 87</p>
<p>Nature as a Sign: Natural Theology and Semiotics 93</p>
<p>4 Natural Theology: Contexts and Motivations 101</p>
<p>The Importance of Cultural Location for Natural Theology 101</p>
<p>A New Vocational Space: Natural Theology as a Religious Calling 105</p>
<p>The Wasteland: Natural Theology and the Recovery of a Lost Nature 107</p>
<p>Wonder and Mystery: Transcendent Experiences 110</p>
<p>Re–Enchantment: Sustaining a Sense of Wonder 113</p>
<p>The Rational Transparency of Nature and Faith 116</p>
<p>Connectedness: The Human Longing for Coherence 120</p>
<p>Meaning: Nature and Ultimate Questions 122</p>
<p>Natural Theology as a Natural Quest 124</p>
<p>5 Natural Theology: Some Concerns and Challenges 128</p>
<p>Natural Theology: Improper and Redundant? 128</p>
<p>Ontotheology? Natural Theology and Philosophical First Principles 133</p>
<p>David Hume: The Intellectual Inadequacy of a Deist Natural Theology 135</p>
<p>Charles Taylor: Natural Theology and the Immanent Frame 138</p>
<p>Barth and Brunner: The Debate which Discredited Natural Theology? 144</p>
<p>Fideism: Natural Theology as Self–Referential and Self–Justifying? 149</p>
<p>6 The Promise of a Christian Natural Theology 154</p>
<p>The Natural Sciences: Natural Theology and the Subversion of Scientism 156</p>
<p>The Affective Imagination: Natural Theology and the Spirituality of Nature 163</p>
<p>Boundaries and Trespass: Natural Theology and Systematic Theology 168</p>
<p>Apologetics: Natural Theology and Public Engagement 173</p>
<p>Conclusion 181</p>
<p>Bibliography 184</p>
<p>Index 240</p>