Systematic Theology (Volume 1 of 3)Strong, Augustus Hopkins
Religion
Systematic Theology (Volume 1 of 3)
Strong, Augustus Hopkins
Baptists -- Doctrines; Theology, Doctrinal
Among the arguments for the existence of God, however, we assign to this
the chief place, since it adds to the ideas of causative power (which we
derived from the Cosmological Argument) and of contriving intelligence
(which we derived from the Teleological Argument), the far wider ideas of
personality and righteous lordship.
Sir Wm. Hamilton, Works of Reid, 2:974, note U; Lect. on Metaph.,
1:33—“The only valid arguments for the existence of God and for
the immortality of the soul rest upon the ground of man’s moral
nature”; “theology is wholly dependent upon psychology, for with
the proof of the moral nature of man stands or falls the proof of
the existence of a Deity.” But Diman, Theistic Argument, 244, very
properly objects to making this argument from the nature of man
the sole proof of Deity: “It should be rather used to show the
attributes of the Being whose existence has been already proved
from other sources”; “hence the Anthropological Argument is as
dependent upon the Cosmological and Teleological Arguments as they
are upon it.”
Yet the Anthropological Argument is needed to supplement the
conclusions of the two others. Those who, like Herbert Spencer,
recognize an infinite and absolute Being, Power and Cause, may yet
fail to recognize this being as spiritual and personal, simply
because they do not recognize themselves as spiritual and personal
beings, that is, do not recognize reason, conscience and free-will
in man. Agnosticism in philosophy involves agnosticism in
religion. R. K. Eccles: “All the most advanced languages
capitalize the word ‘God,’ and the word ‘I.’ ” See Flint, Theism,
68; Mill, Criticism of Hamilton, 2:266; Dove, Logic of Christian
Faith, 211-236, 261-299; Martineau, Types, Introd., 3; Cooke,
Religion and Chemistry: “God is love; but nature could not prove
it, and the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world in
order to attest it.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account