RE: [asa] EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed

Upon further reflection and a little more reading, I believe the view I
expressed below is actually better described by (at least one variation of)
the theological term "panentheism". Deism would hold instead that God is
separate from the creation, and in fact remains separate from it after
"spinning it up" in the first place, letting it operate without divine
intervention. Pantheism (at least a form of it) would be the better
description of the view that "the universe is God".
 
And finally theism -- someone help me out here. Does strict theism, or
theism in some of the major Christian traditions, require God to be separate
from and transcendent of creation, as opposed to panentheism? It seems from
reference.com (http://www.reference.com/search?q=theism) that theism is a
very broad category that can include such diverse ideas such as polytheism,
pantheism, panentheism, dystheism, etc.
 
If theism can be so broadly defined, is this one reason so much difference
and robust discussion exists around the concept of "theistic evolution"
(aside from any scientific arguments)?
 
 
Jon Tandy
 

-----Original Message-----
From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On
Behalf Of Jon Tandy
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 8:12 AM
To: asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Re: [asa] EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed

As to your discussion of deism, I'm not sure where that came from. I
certainly don't argue for deism. If anything, I'm leaning toward the idea
that regardless of the "apparent" natural history of the universe, God is in
all and through all things, and "by him all things consist" (Col 1:17).
This is not to say that "nature is God" (which, as I understand it, is
deistic). Rather, God not only makes his appearance within nature to openly
perform what we would call miracles, but He is actively involved in all of
creation, accomplishing His ultimate purposes in it from Day 1. Thus, we
can say that God "sends the rain", even though we can also describe
humidity, warm and cold fronts, and the condensation of water as the source
of rain in a temporal sense. In the end, it is an incarnational model --
God joined actively with nature, accomplishing His will through it, not just
sitting on a throne in heaven and coming by once in a while for a visit.
This is perhaps the ultimate in theism, not deism at all, because it doesn't
deny God's active involvement, but embraces it through and through
(including the miraculous).
 

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Received on Wed Jan 23 10:33:36 2008