Editing Natural theology (section)

=== 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]].