Premium
Natural Theology in Paul? Reading Romans 1.19–20
Author(s) -
Campbell Douglas A.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
international journal of systematic theology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.149
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 1468-2400
pISSN - 1463-1652
DOI - 10.1111/1463-1652.00017
Subject(s) - revelation , argument (complex analysis) , philosophy , presupposition , subversion , reading (process) , argumentative , natural (archaeology) , epistemology , theology , judaism , construal level theory , sociology , linguistics , law , history , politics , political science , social science , biochemistry , chemistry , archaeology
This reading of Romans 1.19–20 suggests that, viewed within the argumentative progression of the letter from 1.18–3.20, these verses are properly understood as a subversion of the premises of natural revelation, rather than an endorsement of them. The traditional account of Paul's argument, in which 1.19–20 announces a theology of natural knowledge of God, is contradicted both by Paul's wider theological commitments and by his attitude to the privileges of Judaism. An alternative construal of the argument considers it as an ad hominem strategy, in which the opening verses serve to recapitulate at the beginning of the argument the presuppositions that Paul seeks ultimately to overthrow.