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The Biblical Concepts Of Potentia Dei Ordinata And Potentia Dei Absoluta In The Development Of Chemistry, Aaron R. Hutchison

Science and Mathematics Faculty Publications

Medieval theologians spoke of the potentia Dei ordinata (the power of God expressed in the orderly working of nature) and the potentia Dei absoluta (the absolute power of God to intervene miraculously) (Kaiser 1997). Scientific creationists accept this understanding – we believe that God has ordained natural laws that result in a comprehensible natural world. But we recognize God is not bound by natural laws but can act miraculously, as when He spoke the world into existence. This understanding was also foundational not just for the development of science itself. It first appeared outside of the Bible in the Hexameron, …