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july 2008 Natural wonder?Now that science explains so much of nature, is it naive to find divinity in a starry sky or a stunning landscape? Alister McGrath thinks not
Can we learn something about God from nature? The sight of a beautiful landscape, a gorgeous sunset, or the splendour of a starlit night, has moved many to think deep thoughts about the great questions of life, above all the nature and character of God. Might the natural world be a signpost to its creator? Might it be studded with clues to its deeper meaning?
In the past, these questions were addressed by natural theology – in other words theology based on reason and our ordinary experience of the physical world, rather than on the revelation of scripture. Perhaps the most famous – though not the best – example of this approach is to be found in the writings of the Anglican cleric William Paley (1743–1805). For Paley, the beauty, elegance and complexity of the natural world was proof in itself of its ultimate divine origins.
Yet in the 20th century, natural theology has found itself sidelined, enveloped in clouds of deep theological suspicion. Richard Dawkins’ Blind Watchmaker (1983) offered a scientific rebuttal of Paley’s approach, which he declared to have been shown to be obsolete and false through the rise of Darwinism. From a more theological perspective, the great Protestant theologian Karl Barth (1886–1968) issued what many saw as a total prohibition of natural theology. Why should we look for God in nature, when God has already revealed himself in Christ and in scripture?
Rediscovering aesthetics
Others have pointed to natural theology as being obsessed with a rationalist agenda, driven by the agendas of the Enlightenment. Theologians such 3 as Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905–88) called for the recovery of a concern for beauty in theology, shifting the emphasis from mental precision to aesthetic appreciation. Natural theology seemed to amount to an attempt to make sense of the world, on the same intellectual level as solving a crossword puzzle. How, many asked, did that help with an experience or appreciation of the beauty and glory of God?
For many theologians today, then, natural theology is discounted as scientifically discredited and theologically obsolete. It was the product of a rationalist, scientifically credulous and theologically overconfident era. The relentless advance of scientific explanation, matched by a corresponding retreat by Christian theology from the public domain, meant that natural theology seemed to be beached on the sands, left stranded as the tide that had once lent it such intellectual buoyancy slowly ebbed away.
Yet perhaps surprisingly there is every sign that natural theology is emerging from this period of eclipse. A number of factors seem to be involved in this development.
One of the most importance of these is the intellectual curiosity of natural scientists. Landmark books such as John Barrow and Frank Tipler’s Cosmological Anthropic Principle (1986) and Simon Conway Morris’ Life’s Solution (2003) have made a powerful case for the natural world pointing to evidence of transcendence or purpose. There is growing sympathy for the view that natural theology can provide a deeper understanding on fundamental issues such as the fine-tuning of the universe, where science can throw up questions which both point beyond itself on the one hand, and transcend its power to answer on the other. Why does the universe seem to possess certain deep structures that are now known to be essential for life? Curiously, it is growing pressure from within the scientific community that is leading to the reopening of questions that many had thought were long since closed.
Transcendant experience
David Hay’s recent book Something There (2007) points to another factor of importance – the continuing significance of “transcendent experiences” in contemporary culture. Even though western culture is often asserted to be secular, there is widespread evidence of continuing interest in transcendent experiences, in which people form the impression that there is “something there.” To use German theologian Rudolf Otto’s famous phrase, people feel they have experienced “the wholly other” – something boundless, limitless and profoundly different. These experiences, while needing to be interpreted carefully, nevertheless point to the idea of something transcendent being encountered in everyday reality.
If there are signs of a revival of interest in natural theology, will it come in the same form that we find in William Paley? John Henry Newman famously criticised Paley’s approach for being both rationally and imaginatively impoverished. It failed to prove its conclusions on the one hand, and it failed to convey the majesty and glory of God on the other. In fact, Paley’s approach is merely one of many that the palette of Christian theology makes available for encountering nature. There are other – and better – options.
I believe the right approach to natural theology is deeply rooted in the Christian tradition, while at the same time well adapted to the cultural context. It should be understood as a way of “seeing” and appreciating nature that arises from within the Christian faith.
It does not prove God’s existence, but points to the fundamental resonance between what we observe and the basic ideas of the Christian faith. (Rather like John Polkinghorne’s concept of the “consonance” of science and faith.)
We can move away from Paley’s idea of natural theology as a purely sense-making activity. We can use the traditional Platonic triad of “truth, beauty and goodness” as a way of identifying the aspects of nature that we must explore and appreciate. This approach to natural theology does not limit our encounter with the natural world to making sense of what we observe in nature, but moves on to ask how we can appreciate its beauty, and how we ought to behave within it.
Perhaps we can find other new and exciting ways of engaging nature from a Christian perspective. But whatever the approach, there is no doubt of the growing interest in the field of natural theology, and its importance for theological reflection.
Alister McGrath is professor of historical theology at Oxford University. The Open Secret: A New Vision for Natural Theology is published by Blackwell, priced £22.99
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