While we have already considered the complete naturalization of theology in the form of Deism, it is important to note that tendency to appeal more to the book of nature over the book of scripture in search of God and His will was by no means isolated to those who rejected Christianity. In this post we will see how this environment set the stage for Bishop Joseph Butler’s argument that human nature, including what those things which “happened” to, according to God’s design, produce pleasure and pain in us, were also expressions of God’s will for us and thus a ground for human morality. (more…)
