He spends some time talking about how God interacts with the physical
world. This is an extremely important discussion. The 17th through 19th
century theologians discussed a concept that they referred to as
concurrence. While granting true agency to material things in a secondary
causation sense, they always insisted that God was involved. In other
words for every physical/material being/event God concurred in upholding,
sustaining, and governing it. There were no material properties apart from
the divine agency. There is no materialistic autonomy to created things.
My guess is that many people think this discussion to be one of the high
points of Protestant scholasticism, akin to counting the number of angels
that can dance on the head of a pin. Also, all sorts of conundrums rear
their ugly heads, such as the relationship between creaturely agency and
divine sovereignty, but these conundrums are already with us. (I do think
that being a Calvinist helps mute the problematical side of these
conundrums.) Despite the accusations and problems, I think that this is a
very very useful approach to this question.
One of the implications is that it is possible that God normally interacts
with the world via this providential means (even in his creative acts [yes,
Steve, I do blur the distinction as have nearly all theologians who
recognize the possibility of some kinds of mediate creation, including
Hodge and Calvin]). So when we ask does God move matter, the answer is
yes. Whenever matter moves, it is the result of the divine agency. There
is no such thing as matter moving apart from the divine agency. In fact,
there is no such thing as matter existing and continuing to exist apart
from the divine agency.
The materialistic tendencies of science draw their strength from this
doctrine. (Moderns who have no need for God think that matter exists,
continues to exist, and behaves autonomously. This would have been
unthinkable in the past and should be today. But belief in God is not
fundamentally a rationale thing but rather a moral/religious think. The
modern rejection of God is rooted in a religious desire to be autonomous.)
In other words, as one of the Reformed confessions (Westminster Confession
of Faith III,1) puts it, " ... nor is the liberty or contingency of second
causes taken away, but rather established" Material being and causation is
what it is because of the concurrent will and providence of God. There is
nothing intrinsically anti-theistic about materialism.
I encourage folks to read Hodge's treatment of concurrence in his
discussion of providence.
Terry G.
_____________________________________________________________
Terry M. Gray, Ph.D. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Calvin College 3201 Burton SE Grand Rapids, MI 40546
Office: (616) 957-7187 FAX: (616) 957-6501
Email: grayt@calvin.edu http://www.calvin.edu/~grayt