Re: History and Goals (for TE)

Craig Rusbult (rusbult@vms2.macc.wisc.edu)
Mon, 15 Jun 1998 03:59:41 -0500

In paragraph 100 (quoted in the "History and Goals" post) I refer to
"worldviews" because a description of "why TE is theistic" (rather than
deistic, or deterministic,...) may incorporate concepts from a particular
type of theistic worldview (that contains some mix of Calvinism,
Arminianism,..., and maybe concepts like sustenance, governance,
concurrence,...).

To help you understand my own descriptions, there is a summary of my
own "everyday worldview" in Section 1A, at
http://www.sit.wisc.edu/~crusbult/overview.htm#myta ,

"This functional worldview is Biblically based, assumes free will and
personal responsibility, and is consistent with our normal intuitions about
space-time relationships:
Although God could control all events, He voluntarily chooses to
relinquish partial control, so we can speak of God's intentional will (what
God wants to happen) and permissive will (what God allows to happen).
Degree of control varies: for some events the influence of active TA is
little or none, for other events God exerts total control. Because God
decides when to relinquish some control, God's governance of nature is
complete, and there are no unsupervised events even though unguided events
(th-uMIO, with no active TA) may occur. Human free will (and moral
responsibility for our thoughts and actions) seems incompatible with
determinism, either theological (with total control by God) or physical
(with all results decided by th-uMIO causality). Most events are naMIO,
with occasional miraTA." p24

****

When you analyze this non-Calvinist view (or the more detailed version
at #myta in the large overview), please consider all of the disclaimers --
"I don't claim to know answers, ... practical, ... I'm not sure ... remain
appropriately humble ..." -- and the reason it has been included in the
overviews:

"This functional theory does not claim to be "the correct worldview."
Instead, it is offered with the modest hope that it will help you interpret
what I've written about theology and science, if you can see how my own
views have influenced the concepts in this overview and the way these
concepts are expressed." p25

Craig