In a message dated 11/23/01 9:16:10 AM, gmurphy@raex.com writes:
<< The basic theological question, however, is whether God does act in
cooperation with natural processes, or whether God acts directly all the time.
I.e., are creatures genuine secondary causes of events in the world or not?
If
they are, and IF (the critical assumption of a kenotic view of divine action)
God
limits his action to what is within the capacity of created agents, then our
understanding of what natural processes can do will help us to understand
further
what God does. >>
George,
Thanks for your response. My questions now become, what is the relationship
between "God acting in cooperation" and "genuine secondary causes"? How does
God cooperate? What does God cooperate with? Are the genuine secondary
causes ever affected by God's cooperation? If so, how? If not, then isn't
God's cooperation an empty hypothetical construct?
You said, "God limits his action to what is within the capacity of created
agents." This assumes that creation is front loaded, which is one of the
points under debate. Your statement begs the question.
You concluded: "then our understanding of what natural processes can do will
help us to understand further what God does." Aside from "cooperation," I
don't see that God does anything in your view of creation. What else does
God do?
Thanks.
I hope your Thanksgiving Day was all it was meant to be.
Bob
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