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Brauer Seminar: Theology of Nature and Nature of Theology

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Project description

This Brauer seminar will explore historical, ethical, legal and theological conceptions of �nature� and extrapolating from these reflect on the �nature of theological reflection� and so connect the various meanings of the seminar�s title. The question of nature-human and non-human-is hotly debated today. This is true in the face of the global environmental crisis but no less so in important matters brought before the Supreme Court, which might lead to the overturning of Roe vs. Wade or the undoing of same-sex marriage and are often grounded in appeals to �nature� and the natural. The topic has occupied thinkers throughout Western history ranging from natural law ethics, moral naturalism, definitions of the existence and essence of God and, for Christians, the �nature�, i.e., hypostatic union of the Christ, questions about creation and the natural order, and the possibility and task of natural theology. Even current questions about transhumanism and posthumanism find historical forerunners in ideas about theosis or divinization of human nature as well as in debates about resurrection and the possibility of mystical self-transcendence. Each of these topics implies something about nature and also about the nature and task of theological thinking. The seminar will explore these matters with a focus on and shifting understanding of human and divine nature, sustained throughout by a deep interest in the question of �natural religion,� �natural law,� and �natural theology.�