Natural Theology: Geerhardus Vos

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Book Review

Christian Worship

Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 66, No. 1 - Fall 2023
Editor: Malcolm B. Yarnell III

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Translated by Albert Gootjes. Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2022, 184pp., $25.00. 

In recent years discussions concerning natural theology have become vogue in Reformed circles of the Christian academy. Protestant proponents of natural theology have undertaken a staunch effort aimed at substantiating their use of natural theology through citing Reformed theologians of renowned. Such an undertaking links these well-known Reformed theologians to the theological method employed by Thomas Aquinas. Their intentions are to legitimize and normalize the use of natural theology within the Reformed tradition. 

The treatise reviewed here seeks to assist that effort by submitting a collection of translated class notes from Geerhardus Vos’s lectures on natural theology as evidence. Vos is not only one of the patron saints of Reformed dogma but also a connoisseur of biblical theology, and if it can be demonstrated such a grandiose figure in the Reformed world appropriated Thomistic methods then everyone else should obviously do the same. Divided into two parts, the present treatise first introduces the reader to natural theology, then its history in the Reformed tradition, and finally presents notes from Vos’s class on natural theology. 

Part one contains an introduction authored by J. V. Fesko. The introduction is divided into three sections. The first includes a history of natural theology in the Reformed tradition. Fesko offers a helpful distinction between “natural revelation” and “natural theology”; the former includes data made available by God’s creative activity, the latter anticipates the collection, interpretation, and systemization of that data. Fesko attempts to establish a lineage of natural theology traversing Augustine, Anselm, and Aquinas into the Reformed tradition through John Calvin. Fesko then attempts to explain the state of natural theology in the Reformed tradition during the nineteenth century. The Thomistic tradition was employed by Herman Bavinck, setting the stage for the theological milieu in which Vos abided. The final section of the introduction familiarizes the reader with Vos the man and his notes, divulging his sources, methods, and backgrounds. 

Part two offers the notes themselves, which were delivered in the catechetical form of question and answer. The notes are divided into three sections, including a prolegomenon, a discourse on various systems of religion, and a brief dialogue on the immortality of the soul. Of these, natural theology is dealt with in the prolegomenon. Vos deals with natural theology in this section because, based on the structure of the notes, natural theology is the starting point of an apologetic for the existence of the Christian God presented in Scripture. For Vos natural theology serves the purpose of leaving unbelievers without an excuse for their rejection of the Christian God (see question 12). Vos in no way apprehends natural theology as used by Aquinas and does not believe such a use is consistent with Reformed thought (see question 25). 

The editors reimagine Vos as a Thomistic natural theologian despite his primary contributions elsewhere, especially in biblical theology. Moreover, “natural theology” perennially evades a universally agreed upon objective definition. Some, like Anselm, reckon faith as necessarily a priori for theology, while others, like Aquinas, assign a certain priority to human reasoning. Vos is clearly in the former category, and any fair reading of the notes afforded here seems to demonstrate as much. These previously unpublished lecture notes, while full of helpful information, remain sparse and simply do not establish Vos as a Thomistic natural theologian. 

Jason Weir
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Jason Weir

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