Editing Natural theology (section)

== Overview ==
=== Natural theology and physico-theology ===
In the modern understanding, natural theology does not solely refer to the study of God based on natural facts but rather to the study of God based on natural reason.<ref name=sep2025spr>
{{Citation|last1=Chignell|first1=Andrew|title=Natural Theology and Natural Religion|date=2025|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2025/entries/natural-theology/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Fall 2020|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2025-03-22|last2=Pereboom|first2=Derk}}</ref> Although the term "physico-theology" is still occasionally used to describe an earlier understanding, natural theology does not necessarily involve [[teleological arguments]], such as the defense of [[creationism]] or the [[intelligent design]] hypothesis,<ref name=sep2025spr/> as seen in [[natural theology#Nineteenth century|19th–century England]].  Also, [[a posteriori]] [[cosmological argument|cosmological arguments]] such as [[Aristotle]]'s [[unmoved mover|first mover]] theory and [[a priori]] [[ontological argument|ontological arguments]] such as those of [[Anselm of Canterbury|Anselm]] and [[Descartes]] fall within the scope of natural theology.<ref name=sep2025spr/> 

Furthermore, natural theology is not limited to Christian theology. As will be described later, natural theology—i.e., the study of God through reason rather than revelation—has been explored by ancient Greeks such as [[Plato]] and by Islamic philosophers such as [[Ibn Sina]].

=== History ===
For [[monotheism|monotheistic religions]], this principally involves arguments about the [[Cataphatic theology|attributes]] or [[negative theology|non-attributes]] of a deity, and especially the [[existence of God|deity's existence]], using arguments that do not involve recourse to [[revelation]].<ref>{{Citation|last=Wahlberg|first=Mats|title=Divine Revelation|date=2020|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2020/entries/divine-revelation/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Fall 2020|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2020-10-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Natural Theology {{!}} Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy|url=https://iep.utm.edu/theo-nat/|access-date=2020-10-09|language=en-US}}</ref>

The ideals of natural theology can be traced back to the [[Old Testament]] and [[Greek philosophy]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Swinburne|first=Richard|date=2007|title=The Revival of Natural Theology|journal=Archivio di Filosofia|volume=75|pages=303–322}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=McGrath |first1=Alister |title=Natural Theology |url=https://www.saet.ac.uk/Christianity/NaturalTheology#section3 |journal=St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology |date=2022}}</ref> Early sources evident of these ideals come from [[Jeremiah]] and the [[Wisdom of Solomon]] (c. 50 BCE)<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Dines2004">{{cite book|author=Jennifer Mary Dines|title=The Septuagint|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_g_UAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA19|date=8 June 2004|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-567-08464-4|pages=19|quote=usually assigned to the late first century BCE}}</ref> and [[Plato]]'s dialogue [[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]] (c. 360 BCE).<ref name="NA229">{{cite web| url = https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0180;query=section%3D%23400;layout=;loc=Tim.%2028a| title = Plato, ''Timaeus''}}</ref> Aristotle's [[Metaphysics (Aristotle)|tractate on metaphysics]] claims to demonstrate the necessary existence of an unmoved [[Unmoved mover|prime mover]].

[[Marcus Terentius Varro]] (116–27 BCE) established a distinction between [[political theology]] (the social functions of religion), natural theology and [[mythical theology]]. His terminology became part of the [[Stoicism|Stoic]] tradition and then [[Christianity]] through [[Augustine of Hippo]] and [[Thomas Aquinas]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McGrath |first1=Alister |title=Natural Theology |url=https://www.saet.ac.uk/Christianity/NaturalTheology#section4 |journal=St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology |date=2022}}</ref>