Re: [asa] Theological Naturalism - 'The Nature of God' = Naturalism

There is even more than you note. Greg is, to use an old phrase, hipped
on "nature." The original OED lists 45 meanings of the term under 4 major
categories with 15 divisions. "Nature of God" falls under I 1 a; what
science studies, IV 11 a. But perhaps his social science insight extends
far beyond that of mere lexicographers.
Dave

On Fri, 20 Jul 2007 17:35:31 -0500 "David Campbell"
<pleuronaia@gmail.com> writes:
> > Anytime a person questions or speaks to "the nature of God" they
> are
> > utilizing a type of theological naturalism. It is theological
> naturalism
> > because they are applying the concept of 'nature' to something
> that
> > both created and therefore exceeds nature; what some here call
> 'the
> > supernatural.' Once a person speaks about 'the nature of' the
> Divine,
> > they are compromising their views as a scientist because they are
> > considering an extra-scientific Thing.
>
> Our efforts to understand God are afflicted by our limits as
> humans;
> thus, to some extent talking about the nature of God is imposing
> undue
> constraints. This is not to say that we cannot know anything about
> God but rather that all our theology is imperfect. However, this
> has
> nothing to do with the term "nature of God." That phrase uses
> "nature" in a different sense. The nature of something is its
> essential character, and it is perfectly appropriate to speak of
> God's
> nature in this sense. This has nothing to do with "natural" versus
> "supernatural".
>
>
> > "theological naturalism, a phrase he [Hunter] uses to describe
> the
> > restriction of science to naturalism for religious reasons."
>
> I think this may conflate two things. I expect physical laws to
> provide adequate physical descriptions of what happens in the vast
> majority of cases for religious reasons. However, restricting
> science
> to the study of such secondary cases seems to me to not be so much
> a
> religious issue as a practical or semantic issue.
>
> --
> Dr. David Campbell
> 425 Scientific Collections
> University of Alabama
> "I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
>
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Received on Fri Jul 20 19:55:40 2007