The open secret: a new vision for natural theology

Abstract

Acknowledgments. 1 Theology: Introducing an Approach. is an Indeterminate Concept. Theology is an Empirical Discipline. A Christian Theology Concerns the Christian God. A Theology is Incarnational, not Dualist. Resonance, Not Proof: Theology and Empirical Fit. Beyond Sense-Making: The Good, the True, and the Beautiful. Part I: The Human Quest for the Transcendent: The Context for Theology:. 2 The Persistence of the Transcendent. Theology and the Transcendent. The Triggers of Transcendent Experiences. The Transcendent and Religion. 3 Thinking About the Transcendent: Three Recent Examples. Iris Murdoch: The Transcendent and the Sublime. Roy Bhaskar: The Intimation of Meta-Reality. John Dewey: The Curious Plausibility of the Transcendent. 4 Accessing the Transcendent: Strategies and Practices. Ascending to the Transcendent from the Transcendent Through Withdrawing From Nature to Find the Transcendent Within Oneself. Discerning the Transcendent in 5 Discernment and the Psychology of Perception. Perception is Brain-Based. Perception Involves Dynamic Mental Structures. Perception is Egocentric and Enactive. Perception Pays Attention to Significance. Perception Can Be Modulated by Motivation and Affect. Human Perception and Theology. Conclusion to Part I. Part II: The Foundations of Theology: Ground-Clearing and Rediscovery:. 6 The Open Secret: The Ambiguity of The Mystery of the Kingdom: Jesus of Nazareth and the Realm. The Levels of Nature: The Johannine I Am Sayings. Gerard Manley Hopkins on Seeing 7 A Dead End? Enlightenment Approaches to Theology. The Enlightenment and its Theologies: Historical Reflections. The Multiple Translations and Interpretations of the Book of Nature. The Flawed Psychological Assumptions of the Enlightenment. The Barth--Brunner Controversy (1934) and Human Perception. Enlightenment Styles of Theology: Concluding Criticisms. 8 A Christian Approach to Theology. On Seeing Glory: The Prologue to John's Gospel. A Biblical Example: The Call of Samuel. The Christian Tradition as a Framework for Theology. Theology and a Self-Disclosing God. Theology and an Analogy Between God and the Creation. Theology and the Image of God. Theology and the Economy of Salvation. Theology and the Incarnation. Conclusion to Part II. Part III: Truth, Beauty, and Goodness: An agenda for a Renewed Theology:. 9 Truth, Beauty, and Goodness: Expanding the Vision for Theology. 10 Theology and Truth. Resonance, Not Proof: Theology and Sense-Making. The Big Picture, Not the Gaps: Theology and Observation of the World. Theology, Counterintuitive Thinking, and Anthropic Phenomena. Theology and Mathematics: A Natural Way of Representing Reality. Truth, Theology and Other Religious Traditions. On Retrieving the Richness of Truth. Truth and a Theology of the Imagination. 11 Theology and Beauty. Recovering the Place of Beauty in Theology. The Neglect of Beauty: The Deconversion of John Ruskin. Hugh Millar on the Aesthetic Deficiencies of Sense-Making. John Ruskin and the Representation of The Beauty of Theoretical Representations of Beauty, Awe, and the Aesthetic Engagement with Aesthetics and the Seeing of Beauty. Beauty, Theology, and Christian Apologetics. 12 Theology and Goodness. The Moral Vision of Reality. Theology and Law. The Eternal Return of Law. The Moral Ambivalence of The Knowability of Goodness in The Discernment of Goodness: The Euthyphro Dilemma. Conclusion to Part III. Conclusion. Index