Re: The state of suburban theology

George wrote:
> It isn't surprising that virtually all views of divine action -
> process, Neo-Thomist and the others Barbour describes - depend heavily on
> _metaphors_ like worker & tool, persuasion, soul & body, &c. I.e., we use
> our understanding of the way things interact in the world to try to get
some
> grasp of the way God acts in the world, but since God _isn't_ simply part
of
> the world, such descriptions fall short of a detailed analysis of the
> "casual joint." & maybe that's the best we can do.

I'm sure for many people it is enough just to stick with the high level
metphors. However, judging from the increased interest in science and
religion, it would seem that there is a growing number who critically
embrace religious sentiment but also look for some level of consilience
between the faith and science. Since divine action is a center piece of many
theologies, it will also seem a focal point for deep explication. While some
level of metaphor may end up being "the best we can do" one wonders if
metphors like those you mentioned are totally immune to some level of
reduction that can find a reasonably happy relationship with science. Also
if an attempt at this is not undertaken I don't know how the faithful will
be armed against the continued accusations of fideism from the materialists.
How should these suburbans be armed for this issue?

Steve Petermann
Received on Tue Jun 15 15:54:06 2004