Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Ill., 1998. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-114).

Thesis (M.A.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, Wheaton, IL, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-152).

Issued also as thesis, Fribourg. / Bibliography: p. [xv]-xxiii.

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Ill., 1998. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-114).

Thesis (M.A.)--Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1994. / This is an electronic reproduction of TREN, #090-0031. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-145).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Calvin Theological Seminary, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-122).

Thesis (M.A.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, Wheaton, IL, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-152).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / The purpose of this dissertation is to expound and evaluate the natural theology of Gerald Heard in relation to the philosophy of Henri Bergson, and to determine the reason for the relative neglect of Heard's thought in theological and philosophical circles. Gerald Heard is a contemporary thinker who has written widely on the relations among science, philosophy and religion. He has not, however, gained the recognition which the range and number of his books might lead one to expect. The procedure consists in (1) a characterization of the basic philosophy of Henri Bergson as a point of reference for consideration of Heard, (2) a systematic analysis of Heard's thought, noting similarities and differences with regard to Bergson, (3) an evaluation of Heard's thought, and conclusions. [TRUNCATED]

Following Russell Re Manning, I acknowledge the diversity and persistence of natural theology. Going further than Re Manning, however, I propose a 5-type taxonomy stretching from natural theology as natural religion to natural theology as theology of nature. Having met this descriptive responsibility, I then turn in a second chapter to prescriptive possibility in dialogue with the Anglican theologian Howard E. Root (1926–2007). An early advocate of natural theology and the arts, Root called in his 1962 essay, “Beginning All Over Again,” for awareness (i.e., of the arts) rather than formal argument. Critiqued by E.L. Mascall and others, Root responded in his 1972 Bampton Lectures, “The Limits of Radicalism.” Never published, I discovered these lectures in an uncatalogued box at Lambeth Palace Library, London. Drawing upon these lectures, as well as other archival materials, I consider Root's contribution to a natural theology of the arts. That said, Root's work requires further development, and so in an effort to recover Root I have supplemented his contribution with the more recent work of David Brown, his unacknowledged theological heir. In an effort to recover Root more fully I turn in a third chapter to consider the philosopher William Desmond, the result of which is a metaxologically reformulated Root-Brown hybrid. In a fourth and final chapter, I consider the American contemporary artist Jonathan Borofsky and several others in order to see how this theoretical frame might be applied in practice as a metaxological natural theology of the arts.

This study brings Christian theology and Christian analytic philosophy into dialogue through an examination of the compatibility and complementarity of Karl Barth’s theology of revelation, and Alvin Plantinga’s epistemology of Christian belief. The first two chapters are aimed at elucidating the central features of Karl Barth’s theology of revelation and clarifying his attitude toward the place of philosophy in theology. We establish that, for Barth, human knowledge of God is objective, personal, cognitive knowing, enabled by the Spirit’s transforming gift of participation in revelation. We dispel the notion that Barth is hostile to philosophy per se and chart the boundaries he gives for its interface with theology. In chapters 3 and 4, we focus on Alvin Plantinga’s Christian epistemology of warranted belief, and its relationship to Barth’s theology of revelation. A general alignment emerges in their shared inductive approach and agreed rejection of the necessity and sufficiency of human arguments for warranted Christian belief. Their contributions are complementary, with Barth providing what Plantinga lacks in theological depth, and Plantinga providing what Barth lacks in philosophical clarity and defense. Despite their general compatibility, two areas of significant potential incompatibility are flagged for closer analysis in the final two chapters. In chapter 5, we consider their views on natural theology. We extend our thesis of complementarity with respect to negative apologetics, and argue for a harmonizing interpretation of their views with respect to a potential positive contribution from natural theology. The final chapter addresses the role of faith and the constitution of a genuine human knowledge of God. We conclude that Barth and Plantinga do not disagree about the personal and propositional character of revelation, but may disagree about the possibility of a generically theistic de re knowledge of God independent of the Spirit’s gift of faith.