Publisher's Synopsis
Do people know about God just by being human beings, or do they need special divine assistance, through the Bible and the Church before they know anything about God? "Natural Theology" is the idea that human beings "by nature" - through being human - know something of God, or that perhaps they gain such knowledge from observing the world we live in. Its opposite is "revealed theology" - the knowledge of God communicated only through special channels such as Jesus Christ, the Bible and the Church. Natural theology was long accepted as a basic ingredient in all theology, but in the 20th century it was rejected by important theologians, especially Karl Barth. His views denied all natural theology and placed greater emphasis on the Bible. But what if the Bible itself uses, depends on, and supports natural theology? In this book, Professor Barr pursues these questions within the Bible itself and within the history of ideas, earlier and more recent, and he looks at their implications for religion and theology in the future.;This book should be of interest to students of religion, theology, and philosophy.
