Introduction 1

1 Natural Theology: Questions of Definition and Scope 6

The Aim of This Work 8

A Brief Genealogy of Natural Theology 11

Natural Theology: Six Approaches 18

The Natural Theology Project: Thick and Thin Descriptions 22

In Defense of a "Christian" Natural Theology Project 25

The Christian Accommodation of Classic Natural Theology 35

2 Natural Theology and the Christian Imaginarium 41

Sensorium and Imaginarium: Christianity and the Re-Imagination of Nature 42

Modernity and the Suppression of the Imagination 47

Metanoia: Seeing Things as They Really Are 50

Imaginative Transformation: The Church as an Interpretive Community 55

Theoria: Imaginative Beholding and Rational Dissection 57

Nature as logikos: Reflections on the Doctrine of Creation 61

Metaphors of Beauty and Order: Harmony and the Dance 66

3 Text, Image, and Sign: On Framing the Natural World 69

Natural Theology as a Habitus 69

The Intellectual Challenge of the Ambiguity of the World 73

Nature as a Text: Natural Theology and the Book of Nature 78

Nature as Image: Natural Theology and Landscapes 87

Nature as a Sign: Natural Theology and Semiotics 93

4 Natural Theology: Contexts and Motivations 101

The Importance of Cultural Location for Natural Theology 101

A New Vocational Space: Natural Theology as a Religious Calling 105

The Wasteland: Natural Theology and the Recovery of a Lost Nature 107

Wonder and Mystery: Transcendent Experiences 110

Re-Enchantment: Sustaining a Sense of Wonder 113

The Rational Transparency of Nature and Faith 116

Connectedness: The Human Longing for Coherence 120

Meaning: Nature and Ultimate Questions 122

Natural Theology as a "Natural" Quest 124

5 Natural Theology: Some Concerns and Challenges 128

Natural Theology: Improper and Redundant? 128

Ontotheology? Natural Theology and Philosophical "First Principles" 133

David Hume: The Intellectual Inadequacy of a Deist Natural Theology 135

Charles Taylor: Natural Theology and the "Immanent Frame" 138

Barth and Brunner: The Debate which Discredited Natural Theology? 144

Fideism: Natural Theology as Self-Referential and Self-Justifying? 149

6 The Promise of a Christian Natural Theology 154

The Natural Sciences: Natural Theology and the Subversion of Scientism 156

The Affective Imagination: Natural Theology and the Spirituality of Nature 163

Boundaries and Trespass: Natural Theology and Systematic Theology 168

Apologetics: Natural Theology and Public Engagement 173

Conclusion 181

Bibliography 184

Index 240