Vital Remnants: Views on the rationality of God, man, and nature

Monday, June 20, 2011

Views on the rationality of God, man, and nature

Just thinking out loud here, but, as I was reading Michael Allen Gillespie's The Theological Origins of Modernity on a trip out of town last week, it occurred to me that one could break down worldviews on the basis of their view of reason as it applies to God, man and nature:

The Medieval Scholastics (e. g., Thomas Aquinas) emphasized belief in a rational God
The Nominalists (e. g., William of Ockham) and some Protestant Reformers (e. g. Luther) emphasized belief in an irrational God
The Renaissance Humanists (e. g., Erasmus) emphasized belief in a rational man
The Existentialists (e. g. Nietszche) emphasized belief in an irrational man
The Mechanistic Scientists (e. g. Newton) emphasized belief in a rational nature
The Quantum Theorists (e. g. Neils Bohr) emphasized belief in an irrational nature.

It's not an exhaustive list, but it clarified a couple of things for me.

Go ahead, Maniacs, take it apart.

Labels: lists, mechanistic worldview, nominalism

# posted by Martin Cothran @ 7:00 AM

Comments:

Interesting. Did Luther actually say he believed in an irrational God, or is that your conclusion based on the things he said? If so, where can I read these things?

# posted by