Lamad Press

Abstract

This article argues that natural theology is not a neutral or self-contained method for establishing theological conclusions but is inherently shaped by prior metaphysical and epistemological commitments. Using Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica as a case study, it examines how Aristotelian metaphysics undergirds the Five Ways and leads to the doctrine of divine simplicity. While the transition from an unmoved mover to simplicity is logically coherent within this framework, the article contends that the First Way itself does not necessitate these conclusions. By critically evaluating key premises—particularly those concerning the impossibility of self-motion and the requirement of pure actuality—it argues that the presence of agent causation and free will undermines the universality of Aquinas’s argument. In response, a revised form of the First Way is proposed, preserving its core insight while allowing for a first mover characterized by self-actualizing agency rather than pure actuality. The article concludes that natural theology must be understood as part of a broader, interdependent system in which epistemology, metaphysics, natural theology, and theology proper mutually inform one another, rather than as an independent foundation for determining the nature of God.

Recommended Citation:
Anderson, L. J. “Natural Theology and the Shape of God: Aristotelian Metaphysics and Divine Simplicity in Aquinas.” Lamad Theological Review, June 2026.