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Evangelical Dictionary of Theology,
ed. by Walter Elwell,
Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.
Atheism
The Greek word
atheos,
"without God," is found only once in the NT (Eph. 2:12). There it is used in
the plural form to designate the condition of being without the true God. It
refers to the deepest state of heathen misery (cf. Rom. 1:18). It is not found
in either the LXX or the Apocrypha. Both the OT and NT begin with or assume the
reality of God, not as some speculative premise, but as universally manifest in
nature, man's reason and conscience, and divine revelation. The normal human
state includes the knowledge of God; atheism is thus viewed as abnormal. Hebrew
has no equivalent word for atheism. In the OT the form of atheism that one
encounters is practical atheism - human conduct that is carried out without
consideration of god (Pss. 10:4, 14:1, 53:1; cf. Isa. 31:1; Jer. 2:13, 17-18;
5:12; 18:13-15).
The Greeks used "atheism" in three senses: (1) impious or
godless; (2) without supernatural help; (3) not believing in any god or the
Greek conception of god. Because Christians denied the popular gods of the day,
they were often accused of atheism by the pagans. Protestants at times have
been called atheists because of their refusal to deify Mary and to worship
saints. More and more in speculative circles the term came to mean a denial of
God or the negation of the spiritual idea.
Just as the first century introduced a devotion to theism
unique in its scope and depth, so the twentieth century has produced a somewhat
parallel commitment to atheism. This century has seen the development of
communism with its devotion to atheism, as well as the establishment in 1925 of
the American Association for the Advancement of Atheism. The latter
organization was formed to attack all religions through the distribution of
atheistic literature. In 1929 its successor was formed, the League of Militant
Atheists, with goals of the undermining of the religious foundations of Western
society, the establishment of centers for atheistic lectures, the placement of
atheistic professors, and the sponsorship of lectureships. By 1932 this
organization claimed a membership of five and a half million.
Twentieth century atheism may be contrasted with older forms
in two ways. (1) Today atheism is claimed to be the logical consequence of a
rational system that accounts for all human experience without the need to
appeal to God. Communism is such an organized and integrated system. At its
heart is a materialistic view of history and the complete secularization of
life. (2) Earlier atheists were thought to be vulgar and depraved. today many
serve on the faculties of the most prestigious universities, and more often
than not the theist seems to be the obscurantist.
Thus, in modern usage four senses of "atheism" may be
identified: (1) Classical atheism. This is not a general denial of God's
existence but the rejection of the god of a particular nation. Christians were
repeatedly called atheists in this sense because they refused to acknowledge
heathen gods. It was also in this sense that Cicero called Socrates and
Diagoras of Athens atheists. (2) Philosophical atheism. This position may be
contrasted with theism, which affirms a personal, self-conscious deity (not a
principle, first cause, or force.) (3) Dogmatic atheism. This is the absolute
denial of God's existence. This position is more rare than one might think, as
people have more often declared themselves agnostics or secularists. There
have, however, been those who claimed to hold this view (the eighteenth century
French atheists). (4) Practical atheism. While God is not denied, life is lived
as if there is no God. There is complete indifference to his claims, and often
there is outspoken and defiant wickedness (Ps 14:1). This form of atheism is
widely prevalent, as can be seen from the Scriptures cited above.
Numerous arguments for atheism have been given. Some of the
more important are: (1) The onus of proof is on the theist, since atheism is
prima facie
a more reasonable position. (2) Closely related is the belief that theistic
proofs are inadequate. (3) Theism is harmful to society, as it leads to
intolerance and persecution (4) With the advances in modern science there is no
need for God as an explanatory hypothesis. The supernatural is unneeded. (5)
Belief in God is psychologically explainable. (6) The logical positivists argue
that theism is neither true nor false because it is unverifiable (e. g.,
nothing counts for or against it) by public sense experience. (7) Classical
theism is logically contradictory or incoherent. For instance, it has been
claimed that the notion of necessary existence is incoherent and that the
existance of an omnipotent, perfectly good God is inconsistent with the
presence of evil in the world.
Finally, objections have been raised to atheism in its
theoretical form: (1) It is against reason. The existence of something rather
than nothing requires God. (2) It is contrary to human experience, where some
knowledge of God, no matter how suppressed and distorted, has universally
existed. (3) Atheism cannot account for design, order, and regularity in the
universe. (4) It cannot explain the existence of man and mind.
P. D. Feinberg.
Natural Law
A moral order divinely implanted in mankind and accessible to all persons
through human reason. It should not be confused with the "laws of nature,"
which became so prominent in natural science during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries - though there was, historically, some overlap and
connection between the two. Natural Law is chiefly a matter of ethics and is
primarily associated with Roman Catholic theology. It has enabled that church
to address socioeconomic, legal, moral, and political issues on what is held to
be a philosophical foundation common to all mankind.
The roots of this notion lie in antiquity. Aristotle taught that the moral
order and human rights should be derived by reason from the objective cosmic
order, which he saw best realized in the city-state. The Stoics universalized
this idea and heavily influenced Roman ethical and legal thought, which is to
say, the intellectual world of the NT and especially the Latin church fathers.
In Rom. 2:14-15 Paul describes the law "written in the hearts" of Gentiles by
which they will be judged, and elsewhere (Rom 1:24-27; I Cor. 11:14) refers to
certain sexual matters as "against nature." Augustine argued over against
pagans and Manicheaens that God's will is the eternal law, both natural and
moral, behind the entire cosmos; but he, like Paul, saw this moral order in the
light of faith and revelation rather than of reason and philosophy.
It was Thomas Aquinas, the great synthesizer of the gospel and Greek
philosophy, who first formulated the notion of natural law in a way still
foundational and largely normative for Roman Catholics today. Thomas taught
that the "eternal law" by which God established all things became, when
impressed upon man and his nature, a "natural law" (
ius naturae
), through which man potentially participated in his\divinely ordered true end,
but which in his freedom he could also choose\to disobey. Because it was of the
essence of things, man could perceive\and logically deduce it through reason,
though it was also taught in Scripture and received simply in faith. For
Thomas, the natural law was essentially "to do good and avoid evil," the Golden
Rule (Matt. 7:12), and the second Table of the Law, but it included as well
such social matters as monogamous marriage and the right to hold property. It
was the task of conscience to apply to particular cases the immutable general
principles perceived by reason.
Scotus and Ockham located natural law in the will of God rather than in the
very essence of things. So also the Protestant Reformers did not reflect the
term and notion as such, but they equated it with the will of god revealed in
Scripture and fundamentally questioned fallen man's ability to reason his way
to it. In modern times, beginning perhaps with Hugo Grotius, natural law grew
increasingly independent of its religious framework and deeply influenced
social and political thought as mankind's universal and inalienable natural
rights. Kant and most modern philosophers have denied any demonstrable
connection between ethics and a rational law perceivable in the nature of
things. Nevertheless, during the past century natural law theory experienced a
renaissance in Roman Catholic circles. It underlies much of Pope Leo XIII's
social legislation and influenced Pope Paul VI's famous ruling on matters of
sexual conduct (
Humanae Vitae
). American Catholic universities still have many institutes and journals which
seek to apply natural law theory to contemporary social, moral, and legal
issues. Several modern Protestant thinkers (e.g., certain Scottish common sense
realists, Emil Brunner, and, in their own distinctive way, Abraham Kuyper and
his disciples) have seen the advantages of natural law theory in treating of
social and ethical matters with non-christians, but most Protestants,
especially Darl Barth, continue to hold that ethical matters cannot be known in
truth apart from the revelation of god's will in Jesus Christ and Holy
Scripture.
J. Van Engen
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