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11
Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae I, 44, 2.
12
cf. Llus Clavell and Miguel Prez de Laborda, Metafisica (Roma: EDUSC, 2006), p.
339.
It is similar to the construction of a house: the architect builds a
house from existing materials, giving them a new accidental form 13.
In order to explain the act of being of creatures, it is necessary the
existence of a cause of it. This cause should be: primary, universal,
transcendental and by essence14.
The relationship between the First Cause and secondary causes is
one of a subordination, not union nor parallel influx in which divine
and creaturely action add up to produce an only effect 15. To
understand can be useful the analogy of an artist and a brush: a
work of art can be said to be produced both completely by the artist
and completely by the brush, though it is more appropriate to say
that it is attributed to the artist (The First Cause influences on the
reality of the effect more than secondary causes). Of course this is
only an analogy because an instrumental cause is different to a
secondary cause in that the former are used by God, whereas the
latter act according to their own natural order 16.
According to what we have just said it seems that Polkinghornes
critics are groundless. The causality of God does not imply a double
truth or double language, but gives the foundation to the action of
secondary causes. Artigas says that no dichotomy exists between
the two: they refer to different but complementary levels. This
perspective is consistent with a divine agency that not only respects
the created causes, but also fosters them. Even though an
omnipotent God can produce my effect directly, leaving aside the
created causes, we can easily understand that God would enhance
the created causes because it is God himself who has given them
their being and their powers. Therefore, scientific progress does not
contradict God's plan; on the contrary, the more we know how
created causes behave, the more we should admire the greatness of a
God who communicates to creatures the capacity to collaborate with
him to achieve goals that represent both the fulfillment of God's plan
and the perfection of the created agents17.
13
cf. Ibid., p. 340; cf. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae I, 45, 5 ad 1.
14
cf. Ibid., p. 343.
15
cf. Ibid., p. 345.
16
cf. Ibid., p. 346.
17
Mariano Artigas, The Mind of the Universe, cit., p. 146.