Re: [asa] Miracles and God of the Gaps

Try William Temple Archbishop of Canterbury 1942-4
He expressed creation as

God-World=God
World -God =0

In respect of miracles in the chapter on IMMANENCE in Nature Man and God
1934 (I have my uncle's copy which cost him 8/6 i.e 42pence or 75c. My uncle
and mother heard WT at a mission in 1931) he wrote

"If uniformity in nature is not only usual but universal - still more if it
is necessary- the personality of God is denied, unless God is conceived as
purely transcendent in the way repudiated above."

Here WT opens the door for the possibility of a miracle - not of timing

Of course Arthur Peacocke rejected this and wrote about it in ref to WT. But
to give rather personal history WT influenced my uncle Grenville Yarnold in
the 30s and in turn GY influenced Arthur in the 50s , who then influenced
Denis Alexander (a leading light of CIS) in the 60s.

Some of these discussions go back a long time! And often more profoundly
that today!

Michael

----- Original Message -----
From: <kbmill@ksu.edu>
To: <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 7:49 PM
Subject: RE: [asa] Miracles and God of the Gaps

Quoting Dick Fischer <dickfischer@verizon.net>:

> Keith:
>
> Could this statement, "I do believe that God's action in nature is
> supernatural in the sense of being non-material," be amended to: "I do
> believe that God's action or inaction in nature would be supernatural
in
> the sense of being non-material." As stated it would appear you
believe
> God does act in nature. Then if you tried to substantiate that with
> some data it would put you and Behe in the same black box.

Yes, I believe that God acts in nature. If God was not active, then
creation itself would cease to exist. I do not say that God intervenes
in nature, because God is always and continuously active in it.
Intervention implies God's usual absence. The phrase "God's inaction"
does not make sense theologically to me, as I understand that God
brings the rain and feeds the lion cubs in their dens.

As I stated in my previous post, God's action in and through nature (as
well as any action that breaks the chain of cause-and-effect) is
completely invisible to scientific investigation. It is the action of
Spirit. God's action cannot be substantiated with scientific data, it
is spiritually discerned and revealed.

Keith

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Tue Jan 27 15:05:27 2009