Natural Theology: An Impossible Possibility?​​​​​​​

When I originally wrote my article, “Natural Theology Revisited,” I drew a sharp contrast between Karl Barth’s interpretation of natural theology and Thomas F. Torrance’s view, which Torrance presented as his “new natural theology.” After reading Alexander J. D. Irving’s interpretation of Torrance’s natural theology, I am beginning to wonder whether I did not draw the contrast between them sharply enough! According to Irving “Theological science is . . . found to be constituted by a synthetic structure in which natural theology and revealed theology combine to the end of theological knowledge that is determined by God’s self-revelation.” In other words, “For Torrance, theology is a synthesis of natural theology as rational structure and the material content of our knowledge of God’s self-revelation” such that “It is upon the natural co-operation of these two components that thought may be determined by reality.”...