The apologetic fruitfulness of a revised natural theology

Abstract

This article explores the epistemological locus of a revised natural theology (RNT) and examines the apologetic fruitfulness of this concept. In the current science-religion dialogue, RNT is advocated by scholars such as John Polkinghorne. I argue in this article that RNT partakes of the nature of faith and can be labelled as theological metaphysics. The apologetic output is then mainly seen as a contribution to constructing a coherent philosophical-theological understanding of reality. For being able to do this, we need to acknowledge a wider epistemological framework for RNT. One step is to rephrase the underlying critical realism to a constructive critical realism. This approach takes better into account the complexity of our reality. Thus, the apologetic fruitfulness can be evaluated against other competitive coherent systems at a transdisciplinary level.