5. Creation and Science

Vocabulary flashcards covering core topics from the lecture on Creation and Science, including divine causality, creation ex nihilo, continuous creation, and the unity of truth.

Creation ex nihilo

The doctrine that God creates all things from nothing.

Continuous creation

The principle that God sustains all things in existence at all times ("In him we live and move and have our being" [Acts 17:28]).

Primary Causality

God's direct activity in the created order, present, for example, in creation ex nihilo and continuous creation.

Secondary Causality

The genuine causality that creatures exhibit, which is embedded in and constantly depending upon primary causality.

Non-Competitive Transcendence of God

The concept that God is so far above creation that God can bring about effects through secondary causes without interfering with their causal logic.

Unity of Truth

The principle that insofar as all truth and reality come from the same God, no legitimate study of reality (scientific, theological, etc.) can in principle yield contradictory conclusions.