Alister E. McGrath 
Re-Imagining Nature [PDF ebook] 
The Promise of a Christian Natural Theology

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

Alister Mc Grath is currently Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford; he was previously Professor of Theology and Education at King’s College, London. He is regarded as one of the world’s leading Protestant theologians and is the author of some of the world’s most widely used theological textbooks, including the bestselling Science and Religion (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), Christianity (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015), Christian Theology (Wiley-Blackwell, 2016), and The Christian Theology Reader, (5th edition, 2016). He is in constant demand as a speaker at conferences throughout the world, especially in Southeast Asia.