The Relation Of Divine Providence To Physical Laws

Excerpt from The Relation of Divine Providence to Physical Laws: A Discourse Delivered Before the Porter Rhetorical Society, of Andover Theological Seminary, August 1, 1854 Nay, further; the world of matter and the world of mind are not in a state of isolation. They do not present two distinct and parallel series of phenomena. On' the contrary, they come at innumerable points into the closest relationship, and are continually act ing and reacting upon one another; so that we can hardly hope to arrive at a true idea of the scheme or plan of either, by the study of that alone. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

"We live in an age in which the reflecting portion of mankind are much addicted to the contemplation of the works of nature. It is the object of the author in this Treatise to "interrogate nature," with the view of making her utter her voice in answer to some of the most important questions which the inquiring spirit of man can put. To guard against misapprehension, he wishes it to be understood that he treats in this book of the Method of the Divine Government in the world rather than in the Church; of the ordinary providence of God rather than his extraordinary dealings towards his redeemed people." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

Law and Providence deals with the most fundamental issues in understanding the world, such as the relationship between spirit and matter, the connection between the laws of nature and divine providence and the openness of the world to the involvement of God and man. This is a book about the lawfulness of the world and its development, human knowledge and the philosophy of science. These have all been examined from the religious Jewish perspective of a distinguished scientist.

In October 2014, a group of mathematicians, physicists, ecologists, philosophers, and theologians gathered at a special conference in Berkeley, California to present the results of a two-year research program dubbed “Project SATURN”. This program explored many of the rich avenues of thought found at the intersection of modern science and Christian theology. Chief among them is the possibility that certain processes in nature might be so complex that they do not have sufficient physical causes. Known as “ontological indeterminism”, this idea has profound implications for theology. Specifically, it allows God to be thought of as acting providentially within nature without violating the laws and processes of nature. Such a momentous insight could influence how we understand free will, natural evil, suffering in nature, and the relation between divine providence and human evolution. The essays collected here discuss each of these topics and were originally presented at the 2014 conference. Part I establishes the scientific basis for conceptualizing certain process in the universe as inherently random and possibly indeterministic. Part II discusses the philosophical and theological issues that spring from this understanding. Together they represent the cutting edge of thought in the increasingly productive dialogue between science and theology. Short for the “Scientific and Theological Understandings of Randomness in Nature”, Project SATURN was created by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, a Program of the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. It was funded with a grant administered by Calvin College and provided by the John Templeton Foundation.