Machine or Melody? Joseph Ratzinger on Divine Causality in Evolutionary Creation

In a document penned under the direction of its then-president Cardinal Jo-seph Ratzinger, the Vatican’s International Theological Commission observed that many neo-Darwinian materialists and their Christian critics share a misunderstanding of the nature of divine causality. This article explores th...

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Author: Ramage, M.J. (Matthew J.)|||/items/0128f35e-421a-4b6d-a899-3873b2888bc9
Format: article
Publication Date:2020
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Navarra
Repository:Dadun. Depósito Académico Digital de la Universidad de Navarra
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:dadun.unav.edu:10171/62520
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10171/62520
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Ratzinger
evolution
creation
science
faith
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spelling Machine or Melody? Joseph Ratzinger on Divine Causality in Evolutionary CreationRamage, M.J. (Matthew J.)|||/items/0128f35e-421a-4b6d-a899-3873b2888bc9RatzingerevolutioncreationsciencefaithIn a document penned under the direction of its then-president Cardinal Jo-seph Ratzinger, the Vatican’s International Theological Commission observed that many neo-Darwinian materialists and their Christian critics share a misunderstanding of the nature of divine causality. This article explores the thought of Joseph Ratzinger in view of proposing the features of a path that seeks to eschew these faulty understandings of how God causes evolutionary change within our world, thus providing an alterna-tive to the Intelligent Design movement’s approach to creation. . Ratzinger has a deep respect for the integrity of nature, rejecting the notion that God is a “craftsman” who “tinkers” with the world. According to Ratzinger, evolutionary change occurs “precisely in the processes of a living being” even as human beings are “not the mere product of development.” Finally, the emeritus pontiff insists that creation is an ever-present act that unfolds “in the manner in which thought is creative,” a dynamic that he de-scribes variously as a story, drama, melody, and symphony. Wedding these and other key insights, this article submits that Ratzinger’s thought on evolution should lead us to conceive of creation less along the lines of an intelligently designed machine and more as a masterpiece storythat is continually being told as its plot unfolds naturally over the course of time.Uniwersytet Mikołaja KopernikaDadun. Depósito Académico Digital Universidad de Navarra20212021-11-1020202020-01-0120202020-01-01journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/10171/62520reponame:Dadun. Depósito Académico Digital de la Universidad de Navarrainstname:Universidad de NavarraInglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:dadun.unav.edu:10171/625202026-06-21T12:47:57Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Machine or Melody? Joseph Ratzinger on Divine Causality in Evolutionary Creation
title Machine or Melody? Joseph Ratzinger on Divine Causality in Evolutionary Creation
spellingShingle Machine or Melody? Joseph Ratzinger on Divine Causality in Evolutionary Creation
Ramage, M.J. (Matthew J.)|||/items/0128f35e-421a-4b6d-a899-3873b2888bc9
Ratzinger
evolution
creation
science
faith
title_short Machine or Melody? Joseph Ratzinger on Divine Causality in Evolutionary Creation
title_full Machine or Melody? Joseph Ratzinger on Divine Causality in Evolutionary Creation
title_fullStr Machine or Melody? Joseph Ratzinger on Divine Causality in Evolutionary Creation
title_full_unstemmed Machine or Melody? Joseph Ratzinger on Divine Causality in Evolutionary Creation
title_sort Machine or Melody? Joseph Ratzinger on Divine Causality in Evolutionary Creation
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Ramage, M.J. (Matthew J.)|||/items/0128f35e-421a-4b6d-a899-3873b2888bc9
author Ramage, M.J. (Matthew J.)|||/items/0128f35e-421a-4b6d-a899-3873b2888bc9
author_facet Ramage, M.J. (Matthew J.)|||/items/0128f35e-421a-4b6d-a899-3873b2888bc9
author_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Dadun. Depósito Académico Digital Universidad de Navarra
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Ratzinger
evolution
creation
science
faith
topic Ratzinger
evolution
creation
science
faith
description In a document penned under the direction of its then-president Cardinal Jo-seph Ratzinger, the Vatican’s International Theological Commission observed that many neo-Darwinian materialists and their Christian critics share a misunderstanding of the nature of divine causality. This article explores the thought of Joseph Ratzinger in view of proposing the features of a path that seeks to eschew these faulty understandings of how God causes evolutionary change within our world, thus providing an alterna-tive to the Intelligent Design movement’s approach to creation. . Ratzinger has a deep respect for the integrity of nature, rejecting the notion that God is a “craftsman” who “tinkers” with the world. According to Ratzinger, evolutionary change occurs “precisely in the processes of a living being” even as human beings are “not the mere product of development.” Finally, the emeritus pontiff insists that creation is an ever-present act that unfolds “in the manner in which thought is creative,” a dynamic that he de-scribes variously as a story, drama, melody, and symphony. Wedding these and other key insights, this article submits that Ratzinger’s thought on evolution should lead us to conceive of creation less along the lines of an intelligently designed machine and more as a masterpiece storythat is continually being told as its plot unfolds naturally over the course of time.
publishDate 2020
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2020
2020-01-01
2020
2020-01-01
2021
2021-11-10
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/10171/62520
url https://hdl.handle.net/10171/62520
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Dadun. Depósito Académico Digital de la Universidad de Navarra
instname:Universidad de Navarra
instname_str Universidad de Navarra
reponame_str Dadun. Depósito Académico Digital de la Universidad de Navarra
collection Dadun. Depósito Académico Digital de la Universidad de Navarra
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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