On Natural Theology

"Natural theology is to be understood to include the totality of the human engagement with the natural world, embracing the human quest for truth, beauty and goodness. We invoke the so called 'Platonic traid' of truth, beauty, and goodness as a heuristic framework for natural theology. When properly understood, a renewed natural theology represents a distincitlvey Christian way of beholding, envisaging, and above all appreciating the natural order, capable of sustaining a broader engagement with the fundamental themes of human culture in general. While never losing sight of its moorings within the Christian theological tradition, natural theology can both inform and transform the human search for the trascendent, and provide a framework for understanding and advancing the age-old human quest for the good, the true, and the beatufiul."

- Alister E. McGrath, The Open Secret: A Ne.w Vision For Natural Theology (Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2008)