---
title: "Natural theology"
chunk: 1/3
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_theology"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:32:00.714648+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

Natural theology is a type of theology that seeks to provide arguments for theological topics, such as the existence of a deity, based on human reason. It is distinguished from revealed theology, which is based on supernatural sources such as scripture or religious experiences.   It is thus a form of theology open to critical examination, aimed at understanding the divine.
Natural theology does not preclude the concept of divine intervention nor presuppose a clockwork universe; however, it demands that any position be supported through reasoned arguments based on natural reason.
In contemporary philosophy, natural theology is not limited to approaches based on empirical facts, such as natural phenomena, nor are its conclusions limited to pantheism. It was once also termed "physico-theology".
Natural theology includes theology based on scientific discoveries, arguments for God's existence grounded in observed natural facts, and interpretations of natural phenomena or complexities as evidence of a divine plan (see predestination) or God's Will. It also includes efforts to explain the nature of celestial motors, gods, or a supreme god responsible for heavenly motion. Natural theologians have offered their own explanations for some unsolved problems in science.

== 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. 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, as seen in 19th–century England.  Also, a posteriori cosmological arguments such as Aristotle's first mover theory and a priori ontological arguments such as those of Anselm and Descartes fall within the scope of natural theology.
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 monotheistic religions, this principally involves arguments about the attributes or non-attributes of a deity, and especially the deity's existence, using arguments that do not involve recourse to revelation.
The ideals of natural theology can be traced back to the Old Testament and Greek philosophy. Early sources evident of these ideals come from Jeremiah and the Wisdom of Solomon (c. 50 BCE) and Plato's dialogue Timaeus (c. 360 BCE). Aristotle's tractate on metaphysics claims to demonstrate the necessary existence of an unmoved 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 Stoic tradition and then Christianity through Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas.

== Ancient Greece ==
Besides Hesiod's Works and Days and Zarathushtra's Gathas, Plato gives the earliest surviving account of a natural theology.

=== Plato ===
In the Timaeus, written c. 360 BCE, in the preamble to the account of the origin of the cosmos, we read: "We must first investigate concerning [the whole Cosmos] that primary question which has to be investigated at the outset in every case ... namely, whether it has always existed, having no beginning or generation, or whether it has come into existence, having begun from some beginning." The subsequent parts of the text argues for the necessity of a divine craftsman, who rationally constructed the cosmos out of pre-existing chaos (Timaeus 27d-30c) In the Laws, in answer to the question as to what arguments justify faith in the gods, Plato affirms: "One is our dogma about the soul...the other is our dogma concerning the ordering of the motion of the stars".
In Book II of the Republic and Book X of the Laws, Plato argues against the following ideas: 

Gods do not exist.
They exist but do not care about humans.
They are easily persuaded by offerings and prayers.

=== Aristotle ===

Aristotle's tractate on metaphysics claims to demonstrate the necessary existence of an unmoved prime mover.

== Ancient Rome ==
Marcus Terentius Varro in his (lost) Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divinarum (Antiquities of Human and Divine Things, 1st century BCE) established a distinction between three kinds of theology: civil (political) (theologia civilis), natural (physical) (theologia naturalis) and mythical (theologia mythica). The theologians of civil theology are "the people", asking how the gods relate to daily life and the state (imperial cult). The theologians of natural theology are the philosophers, asking about the nature of the gods, and the theologians of mythical theology are the poets, crafting mythology.

== Middle Ages ==
From the 8th century CE, the Mutazilite school of Islam, compelled to defend their principles against the orthodox Islam of their day, used philosophy for support, and were among the first to pursue a rational Islamic theology, termed Ilm-al-Kalam (scholastic theology). The teleological argument was later presented by the early Islamic philosophers Alkindus and Averroes, while Avicenna presented both the cosmological argument and the ontological argument in The Book of Healing (1027).
Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225 – 1274) presented several versions of the cosmological argument in his Summa Theologica, and of the teleological argument in his Summa contra Gentiles. He presented the ontological argument, but rejected it in favor of proofs that invoke cause and effect alone. His quinque viae ("five ways") in those books attempted to demonstrate the existence of God in different ways, including (as way No. 5) the goal-directed actions seen in nature.