Özet:
Confronting ultra mechanistic and rationalistic views in 17th and 18th centuries، Jonathan Edwards has located theological reasoning in the margins and saw it as a kind of limiter to meet the problems which challenged religious beliefs. Having the fall of man in mind، he held that it resulted in corrupting human nature and made him/her ignorant; accordingly، because of it the human reason is corrupted. He، thus، maintains that reasoning inherent contradictories، presuppositions، and perverse inclinations. Such a reverse direction cannot affect religious lifewhich is important for Edwards، therefore it remains in its simple conceptual form. But، in the other hand، reason could be cured from its perverse nature by faith; seeing، then، the evidences for affirming the existence of God. Otherwise، reason out of faith realm remains passive، erroneous، and far from being practical.
Otomatik Özet:
Examining the Consequences of the Fall in the Rational Theology of Jonathan Edwards Seham Asadi Nia 1 PhD in Philosophy of Religion and New Theological Issues from Tarbiat Modares University Abstract Jonathan Edwards, as the greatest New England theologian, in response to the mechanistic approach and the excessive emphasis on rational perceptions and the subsequent denial of revelation and the revelatory outlook of the 17th and 18th centuries, aims to solve the problems arising in the field of religion.
It can be inferred from Edwards' statements that humans possess actual perceptions within themselves of God and divine matters; although sin becomes an obstacle between him and his perceptions, this deficiency is not permanent, and through attention and divine assistance, a person is capable of perceiving these perceptions, as he explicitly states: "Divine grace causes the faculty of reasoning to be sanctified and helps the reason to see the clear evidence that exists for the truth of religion in rational arguments, and this occurs in two ways: first, by setting aside prejudices and making the mind more receptive to the strength of the arguments; and second, by enlightening the mind and helping it to perceive the strength of rational arguments...
Obstacles to the structure of reason in natural theology Reason encounters preoccupations and obstacles in the perception and understanding of argumentative judgments, which cause the intellectual level to remain distant from real and correct perception: 1- The existence of mental prejudices; 2- The lack of clarity in rational arguments and the darkness and fall of reason due to original sin; 3- Corrupt inclinations of reason and inverted judgments.
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