Natural Theology and the Eastern Orthodox Tradition

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleNatural Theology and the Eastern Orthodox Tradition
3. Language term English
4. lemma author Tampakis, Kostas
5. lemma category History and philosophy of science - Ecumenism and dialogue > Dialogue between religions
6. Publication date 9-10-2018
7. lemma work Knight, Christopher [Author]. Natural Theology and the Eastern Orthodox Tradition
8. lemma manifestations The Oxford Handbook of Natural Theology
9. Keywords natural theology - eschatology - pantheism - theophany - Cappadocian Fathers
10. Lemma body

    1. This article aims to place Natural Theology in the context of Orthodox Christianity. The author stresses that a tradition of Natural theology as understood in the Western thought does not exist in Orthodoxy. The main reason is the importance of Tradition, and the lesser emphasis placed on logical reasoning as a means to prove the existence of God. However, the term natural theology can be applied to elements of the Orthodox tradition. The paper first examines the role of the classical philosophical inheritance in Orthodox thought, and notes that the orthodox understanding separates contemplation (theoria), intellect (nous) and spiritual knowledge (gnosis). In such as scheme, while the immanence of the Creator in nature is celebrated even more so than in Western thought, pure philosophical speculation is not sufficient. Moreover, and for that reason, the rationalistic approach of classical thought is accepted only critically. The author then discusses the ideas of the Cappadocean fathers regarding worship and eschatology, creation and pantheism and theophany to show how a rich heritage exists to pursue the spirit of an Orthodox natural theology, if not the letter. The paper ends by elucidating modern developments of the last century or so and offers, as a conclusion, some insight on why Orthodoxy has not pursued this line of inquiry further.