God, Freedom, and Evil: Perspectives from Religion and Science

Author: Życínvski, Joseph M.¹

Source: Zygon, Volume 35, Number 3, September 2000 , pp. 653-664(12)

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

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Abstract:

This paper develops analogies concerning the evolution of dissipative structures in nonequilibrium thermodynamics to interpret irrational human behavior in which one finds a lack of correspondence between the invested means and the consequences observed. In an attempt to positively explain the process of cooperation between the free human person and interacting God, I use philosophical categories of Whitehead's process philosophy in an aesthetic model that opposes composition and performance in a musical symphony. Certainly, the essence of human freedom can be expressed in neither thermodynamical nor aesthetic terms. The models proposed can, however, facilitate our understanding of the mutual relations between God's action in the world and the drama of human free choice of moral evil.

Keywords: freedom; God's action; grace; irrationality; moral evil; nonequilibrium; thermodynamics; process theology; Whitehead's philosophy

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/0591-2385.00302

Affiliations: 1: Catholic University of Lublin

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