John & Jon have been talking about the proper category label for human
decision-making. It's not "natural" in the same sense that the growth of a
tree is. Neither is it "natural" in the same sense as the particular outcome
of a quantum event or a chaotic process is. And, of course, neither is it a
wholly "divine" action.
Is it "supernatural"? I (and I presume Griffin also) would strongly object
to using that term here because it has such a long tradition of association
with a particular type of _divine_ action (the kind that breaks the
continuity of the universe's causal nexus).
So, what's the distinction we're looking for? In the context of our
examination of the relative merits of naturalism(ns), naturalism(sam),
theism, process theology, deism, atheism, supernaturalism, interventionism,
supernatural interruptionism, and the like, It seems to me that some of the
central questions we are asking are these:
(1) When looking at the outcome of some process or event, is the cause of
this outcome divine action, creaturely action, or some combination of the
two?
(2) And if divine action is a causal factor, does it function coercively by
overpowering creaturely action? Or, on the other hand, does it function
non-coercively (say as a "persuasion," or an "invitation," to use the
vocabulary of process theology) without breaking the continuity of the
universe's causal nexus to bring about one possible outcome rather than some
other outcome permitted by the creaturely system of cause and effect?
(3) Does divine action function substitutionally by compensating for missing
creaturely capabilities? Or, does divine action function at a wholly
different level from creaturely action -- neither overpowering it, nor
substituting for it, but sustaining the being of the creaturely system and
"inviting & blessing" one course of creaturely action over some other
possible course?
Although human decision-making may be neither "natural" (in the senses noted
above) nor divine, it is fully a creaturely action. Perhaps the distinction
between "divine" and "creaturely" action would be more fruitful than the one
between natural and non-natural (or supernatural, or extra-natural).
Howard Van Till
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