Natural theology

Have recently been introduced to a concept called Natural Theology.

Regular Theology I guess would be derived from texts considered divine revelation like the Hebrew Scriptures (a.k.a. Old Testament) or the Christian Scriptures (Old plus New Testaments). I figure the other major religions have theologies based on their revered texts.

Anyway, Natural Theology would be ideas about god apart from divine texts.

For instance, the existence of god in sacred texts is dogma and assumed and need not be argued for.

But can one argue for god apart from religious revelation?

In steps, Natural Theology.

It sounds like there are five notible arguments for god. I suppose there may be more.

Cosmological argument says the universe exists; thus, there is a creator = god.

Teleological argument says there is design in the universe; thus, there is a designer = god.

Ontological argument says that all cultures have a god concept; thus, there is some god that must exist for such a concept to be universal.

Moral argument says that the existance of the concept of good and evil within the human mind suggests a being who defines good and evil, i.e. god. Without god, good and evil is just personal preference.

Religious experience argument says in human history people have claimed to have interacted with god. Since these individuals were not deemed psychologically disturbed there maybe some validity to their experience.

Obviously, none of these things "prove" god's existence but they do make the god inference plausible. Also, none of these arguments make a particular religion's god more likely than another. Anyway, I thought it was fascinating that there is a whole field of philosophy that explores what we can know about god apart from divine revelation.

The interesting thing about Christianity and Judaism is that both have highly developed theologies and they have strong and necessary claims of historicity. The Jews have the Exodus as their pivotal moment of history. If the Exodus were to ever be proved to be a fabrication, the whole religion would collapse. Likewise, Christianity rests entirely on Jesus' death, burial and resurrection. If that were to ever be shown to be false, Christianity would cease.

All religions have ethics, doctrine and ritual. Interestingly, Judaism and Christianity also have key elements of historicity to their foundation. I'm not certain that other religions do?

In light of this, it makes sense that over the eons, the identity of Jesus would be the subject of controversy. If Christianity has any claim to being "true" then those who oppose Christianity would attack its foundation, Jesus. In this regard, the Di Vinci Code phenomena would be just the latest flavor of the month.

Without videotape evidence of Jesus' existence, I don't know if one can say that his claims are "beyond a reasonable doubt." However, it seems to me that between the testimony of the Christian Scriptures and the history of the church there is at least "probable cause" to support the claims of Jesus.