Discovering Creation as Personal Presence: From Logos ut Ratio to Logos ut Verbum

Description

Abstract: Traditional natural theology has focused on the discovery of God through discursive reasoning based on metaphysical principles. While important, this approach has tended to foster an apparent gap between the so-called God of the philosophers and the God of Scriptures. The present paper seeks to bridge this gap by exploring how, both historically and in contemporary thought, nature and creation has been seen in terms of a personal presence that is revealed through the discovery of rationality and meaning. The paper first looks at how in early Christian thought, the interplay between Greek philosophy of logos and the Judeo-Christian understanding of creation as a speech act led to a gradual transformation of the notion of logos. This transformation may be summarized as the expansion of the logical and metaphysical logos ut ratio to the notion of logos ut verbum, which implies personality and invites a response. It secondly shows that, although this transformation was dependent on scriptural revelation, it fed back into philosophical thought, giving rise in the process to the celebrated metaphor of the book of nature. The book of nature synthesizes the idea that the contemplation of the visible world leads one to discover something that is at once both rational and communicative. Finally, the paper explores contemporary authors who have underscored the way in which scientific activity can lead to the discovery of a personal presence, so that science itself can lead to prayer.

Period	5 Oct 2021 → 7 Oct 2021
Event title	From Logos to Person: 5th Interdisciplinary Conference at The Polis Institute
Event type	Conference
Location	Jerusalem, IsraelShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International