Natural Theology in the Scientific Revolution by Calloway Katherine

Author:Calloway, Katherine.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: National Book Network International

[Man] is a dependent Creature, and hath nothing but what he hath received, and not only dependent, but imperfect; yea, weak and impotent…one Vertue is counter-balanced by many Vices; and one Skill or Perfection, with much Ignorance and Infirmity.50

This assertion has profound implications for the kind of work Ray sees natural theology as doing. Like Wilkins in Beauty of Providence, Ray delights in the insights he is able to glean, but he is clear that the object of natural theology is to celebrate God's existence and attributes, not to prove them.

Accordingly, Ray is profoundly suspicious of claims that ascribe what Wilkins calls ‘magisterial judgment’ to human science.51 These claims might include not only More's celebration of human art as an extension of God's activity in the universe, but also the rhetoric casting science as an effective remedy for the effects of the fall.52 Ray refuses to elevate reason in either of these ways. Following Wilkins, he observes ‘concerning the curiosity of the Works of Nature in comparison with the Works of Art’ that the innovation of the microscope has uncovered

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