GOD OF THE GAPS OR THE GOD OF "DESIGN AND DOMINION"? RE‐VISITING NEWTON'S THEOLOGY.
Starting with Gottfried Leibniz, Isaac Newton's theology has often been caricatured as putting forward a "God of the gaps" argument for God's existence and continued involvement in the world. Peter Harrison has pointed out that this characterization of Newton's theology is "not entirely clear." A cl...
| Published in: | Zygon: Journal of Religion & Science Vol. 58; no. 1; pp. 64 - 79 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Open Library of Humanities
Mar2023
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=162824810&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 162824810 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 05912385 ZYG jtl: Zygon: Journal of Religion & Science issn: 05912385 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Mar2023 vid: 58 iid: 1 pid: 15576 pub: Open Library of Humanities artinfo: ui: 162824810 10.1111/zygo.12825 ppf: 64 ppct: 15 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 106KB tig: atl: GOD OF THE GAPS OR THE GOD OF "DESIGN AND DOMINION"? RE‐VISITING NEWTON'S THEOLOGY. aug: au: Torrance, Eugenia su: Newton, Isaac, 1642-1727 Theology God Proof of God Divine providence sug: subj: Newton, Isaac, 1642-1727 Theology God Proof of God Divine providence keyword: argument from design deism God of the gaps Isaac Newton science‐engaged theology ab: Starting with Gottfried Leibniz, Isaac Newton's theology has often been caricatured as putting forward a "God of the gaps" argument for God's existence and continued involvement in the world. Peter Harrison has pointed out that this characterization of Newton's theology is "not entirely clear." A closer look at Newton's letters and the drafts to the Opticks reveals that, rather than arguing God's providential ordering and care over the world, he takes these for granted and is reluctant to specify instances of this order and care based on his physical research. He certainly believes in gaps in mechanical causes but is more eager to fill those gaps with nonmechanical natural causes than with God. Further, his system does not exhibit the two most prevalent weaknesses attributed to "God of the gaps" theologies: (1) that by describing God as intervening in natural causes his skill as a designer is maligned and (2) that by describing the physical details of God's involvement in the world one puts too much weight on theories likely to be replaced as science advances. Newton avoids the former weakness because it is only God's masterfulness as designer that he ties in any way to his theories of the physical world. He avoids the latter because he never points to God as the direct cause of any specific physical processes. Newton hoped that his system would cause his readers to marvel not only at God's providence but also at humankind's inability to sufficiently understand it. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Zygon: Journal of Religion & Science is the property of Open Library of Humanities and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Zygon: Journal of Religion & Science holder: Open Library of Humanities dt: @attributes: year: 2023 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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