Natural Theology in the Orthodox Tradition

The indefatigable Paul Gavrilyuk has drawn attention to a new publication in the IOTA series of books he has been superintending as head of that impressive organization: Natural Theology in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition, eds. Richard Swinburne and David Bradshaw (IOTA Publications, July 2021), 216pp.

About this new book the publisher tells us this: 

Natural theology attempts to show that there is a God, and what he is like, on the basis of evidence which both theists and atheists can recognize as obviously true, such as the existence of the universal laws of nature. Many recent Eastern Orthodox thinkers have questioned the cogency and religious value of natural theology. This volume contains essays by David Bradshaw, Richard Cross, Alexey Fokin, Paul Gavrilyuk, Travis Dumsday, Dionysios Skliris, and Richard Swinburne, on the history of natural theology in the Orthodox Church and its contemporary relevance.

Natural Theology

As I've mentioned before in looking at comparable handbooks, we are, happily, living in a time when such scholarly collections can no longer ignore the East, and so manage to have at least one chapter on Eastern Christian realities. Forthcoming in March is a paperback version of  The Oxford Handbook of Natural Theology (Oxford, 2015),672pp. Though "natural theology" is not a category that has preoccupied the East as much as the West for several reasons, nonetheless Orthodox contributions to the debates are noted here.

Edited by Russel de Manning, this book, the publisher tells us:

is the first collection to consider the full breadth of natural theology from both historical and contemporary perspectives and to bring together leading scholars to offer accessible high-level accounts of the major themes. The volume embodies and develops the recent revival of interest in natural theology as a topic of serious critical engagement. Frequently misunderstood or polemicized, natural theology is an under-studied yet persistent and pervasive presence throughout the history of thought about ultimate reality - from the classical Greek theology of the philosophers to twenty-first century debates in science and religion.

Of interest to students and scholars from a wide range of disciplines, this authoritative handbook draws on the very best of contemporary scholarship to present a critical overview of the subject area. Thirty eight new essays trace the transformations of natural theology in different historical and religious contexts, the place of natural theology in different philosophical traditions and diverse scientific disciplines, and the various cultural and aesthetic approaches to natural theology to reveal a rich seam of multi-faceted theological reflection rooted in human nature and the environments within which we find ourselves.

We are also given a detailed list of the contents. Chapters 3, 13, and 33 are of especial interest.

Introduction
I: Historical Perspectives on Natural Theology
1. Classical Origins of Natural Theology, Stephen Clark
2. Natural Theology and the Christian Bible, Christopher Rowland
3. Natural Theology in the Patristic Period, Wayne Hankey
4. Natural Theology in the Middle Ages, Alexander Hall
5. Early Modern Natural Theologies, Scott Mandelbrote
6. Nineteenth-Century Natural Theology, Matthew Eddy
7. Natural Theology in the Twentieth Century, Rodney Holder
II: Theological Perspectives on Natural Theology
8. Jewish Perspectives on Natural Theology, Daniel Frank
9. Natural Theology in Eastern Religions, Robert Morrison
10. Perspectives on Natural Theology from Eastern Religions, Jessica Frazier
11. Catholic Perspectives on Natural Theology, Denis Edwards
12. Protestant Perspectives on Natural Theology, Russell Re Manning
13. Natural Theology and the Eastern Orthodox Tradition, Christopher Knight
14. Theological Critiques of Natural Theology, Andrew Moore
III: Philosophical Perspectives on Natural Theology
15. Perspectives on Natural Theology from Analytical Philosophy, Keith Parsons
16. A Perspective from Continental Philosophy, Russell de Manning
17. Process Thought and Natural Theology, David Ray Griffin
18. The Design Argument and Natural Theology, Neil A. Manson
19. Morality and Natural Theology, William Schweiker
20. Religious Experience and Natural Theology, Mark Wynn
21. Postmodernity and Natural Theology, Clayton Crockett
22. Feminist Perspectives on Natural Theology, Pamela Sue Anderson
23. Comparative Natural Theology, Wesley Wildman
24. Philosophical Critique of Natural Theology, Charles Taliaferro
IV: Scientific Perspectives on Natural Theology
25. Natural Theology: The Biological Sciences, Michael Ruse
26. Physical Sciences and Natural Theology, Paul Ewart
27. Chemical Sciences and Natural Theology, David Knight
28. Mathematics and Natural Theology, John Polkinghorne
29. Natural Theology and Ecology, Christopher Southgate
30. Sciences of the Mind and Natural Theology, Fraser Watts
31. A Sociological Perspective on Natural Theology, Richard Fenn
32. Scientific Critiques of Natural Theology, Philip Clayton
V: Perspectives on Natural Theology from the Arts
33. Aesthetics and the Arts in Relation to Natural Theology, Frank Burch Brown
34. Imagination and Natural Theology, Douglas Hedley
35. Natural Theology and Literature, Guy Bennett-Hunter
36. Natural Theology and Music, Jeremy Begbie
37. Images in Natural Theology, Kristof Nyiri
38. The Film Viewer & Natural Theology God's "Presence" at the Movies, Robert Johnston
Conclusion: The Future of Natural Theology

Natural Theology

As I have noted before, major publishers today continue to publish highly useful "handbooks" or "companions" to various topics. (I have myself contributed to two such forthcoming handbooks from Oxford: one on the sacraments, and another on ecclesiology. Both should be in print next year.) These handbooks aim to bring leading scholars together covering a variety of topics in a given area, offering the reader a portrait that is at once scholarly, current, and accessible.

In March of this year, under Russell Re Manning's editorship, another such handbook was published: The Oxford Handbook of Natural Theology (Oxford UP, 2013),672pp.

About this book the publisher tells us:

The Oxford Handbook of Natural Theology is the first collection to consider the full breadth of natural theology from both historical and contemporary perspectives and to bring together leading scholars to offer accessible high-level accounts of the major themes. The volume embodies and develops the recent revival of interest in natural theology as a topic of serious critical engagement. Frequently misunderstood or polemicized, natural theology is an under-studied yet persistent and pervasive presence throughout the history of thought about ultimate reality - from the classical Greek theology of the philosophers to twenty-first century debates in science and religion.

Of interest to students and scholars from a wide range of disciplines, this authoritative handbook draws on the very best of contemporary scholarship to present a critical overview of the subject area. Thirty eight new essays trace the transformations of natural theology in different historical and religious contexts, the place of natural theology in different philosophical traditions and diverse scientific disciplines, and the various cultural and aesthetic approaches to natural theology to reveal a rich seam of multi-faceted theological reflection rooted in human nature and the environments within which we find ourselves.

Two chapters will be of especial interest to Eastern Christians:

3. Natural Theology in the Patristic Period , Wayne Hankey

13. Natural Theology and the Eastern Orthodox Tradition , Christopher C. Knight