NEOORTHODOXY159Opponents counter that values (the good-
ness of human life) should be regarded as
a fact and no less factual than standard
facts such as the fact that this is a diction-
ary, 2 + 2 = 4, and water is H 2 O.
NATURE. From the Latin natura. (The
Greek word, physis, gives us terms such as
physical.) Something has a nature if it has
value as a kind of being or thing (e.g.,
human nature). Sometimes “nature” is
used to refer to all that is not God. Such
usage is in tension with some theists who
claim that God has a nature, e.g., the
divine nature is maximally excellent.
“Nature” has also been defined as “every-
thing,” but such a broad characterization
seems to rob the term of philosophical
significance.
NECESSITY, THE NECESSARY. X is
necessary if it is possible and not X is
impossible. Theists often regard God’s
existence as necessary or non-contingent,
while some diverge and claim that God’s
existence is, rather, uncaused or without
beginning or end and yet not necessary.
Necessity is sometimes conditional: given
that you exist, it necessarily follows that at
least one thing exists. But from the latter
it does not follow that you necessarily
exist.
NEGATIVE THEOLOGY. See APO-
PHATIC THEOLOGY.
NEO-CONFUCIANISM. Neo-
Confucianism is a broad term, with no
precise Chinese analogue, referring to
the revival of Confucianism beginning
in the Song dynasty (960–1276), which
hoped to recapture the original vision of
an ideal Confucian society and a return
to the study of the Confucian classics.
The Confucian canon was studied with
new questions in mind, in response to
Buddhist intellectual domination during
the Tang period (618–906). Neo-Confucian
philosophers formulated a response to
some Buddhist concerns and methods,
and they created a new Confucian meta-
physics meant to compete with Buddhism.
At the same time they drew from
Buddhist ideas: Zen ideas of enlighten-
ment through meditation had a strong
influence, as did Huayang cosmology. Neo-
Confucianism was nevertheless always
this-worldly and practical. It rejected
Buddhism’s search for nirvana, salvation,
and an afterlife, as well as religious
Daoism’s quest for immortality. The
Cheng brothers, Cheng Hao and Cheng
Yi, were among the founders of Song
Neo-Confucianism, but Zhu Xi was its
greatest synthesizer. Zhu Xi’s writings
became the basis of Confucian ortho-
doxy, enforced through the civil service
examination system until the examina-
tions were abolished in 1905.NEOORTHODOXY. A theological posi-
tion indebted to Karl Barth’s insistence
on God’s sovereignty, the primacy of the