>>> "David Opderbeck" <dopderbeck@gmail.com> 10/25/06 10:15 AM >>>writes:
Thank you for these links. Denis Alexander's materials are very helpful
in
clarifying what he calls a modest natural theology from some of the
stronger
claims of ID.
Ted comments:
It is not difficult to hear behind Denis' footsteps those of John
Polkinghorne. He is probably the best and certainly the most eloquent
advocate today of "a new form of natural theology," which "differs from the
old-style natural theology of Anselm and Aquinas by refraining from talking
about 'proofs' of God's existence and by being content with the more modest
role of offering theistic belief as in insightful account of what is going
on. It differs from the old-style natural theology of William Paley and
others by basing its arguments not upon particular occurrences (the
coming-to-be of the eye or life itself), but on the character of the
physical fabric of the world, which is the necessary ground for the
possibility of any occurrence (it appeals to cosmic rationality and the
anthropic form of the laws of nature)." etc. And the etc is equally worth
reading, but you need to buy the book ("Belief in God in an Age of Science",
p. 10) to read it!
I keep emphasizing in various conversations (here and elsewhere) the
significance of Polkinghorne's writings for the modern dialogue of science
and religion. He's right in the middle--traidtional, but pushing the
envelope of tradition on some points (such as open theism and a
non-historical view of the fall). But traditional (such as genuine divine
transcendence along with real immanence, a fully incarnational view of Jesus
as fully divine), which is often overlooked by his critics on the right.
IMO, he understands and appreciates what HPS has done for the modern
dialogue better than most others, and he values tradition (not for its own
sake, but for the truth it contains) a lot more than most leaders in that
dialogue--and for the right reasons.
Ted
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Received on Wed Oct 25 10:41:58 2006
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