In Christian theology, divine conservation is the principle that God is responsible for maintaining the continued existence of the universe.[1][2] In (modern) theological terms, it is the underpinning of the conservation of mass-energy, theologians holding that this principle of physics by definition does not deal in why a closed system continues to exist, only what happens within it as it does.[3] God has a conserving power that is ever-present and exercised over the whole of creation.[4]
One example modern formalism of divine conservation is given by Leibniz scholar Robert C. Sleigh Jr as two theses:
- For any finite individual substance x and time t, if x exists at t then God brings it about in toto[a] that x exists at t.[5]
- For any state of affairs α and time t, if α obtains in the created world at t and α's obtaining at t requires a cause, then God brings it about in toto that α obtains at t.[5]
Sleigh Jr labelled the first thesis weak conservation and the second thesis strong conservation.[5] Todd Ryan later adopted largely the same labelling, from Sleigh Jr.[6]
Scholars such as Descartes, Leibniz, and Malebranche can be said to agree with this modern formalism to different extents.[5] A reduced form of the principle that was earlier espoused by Durandus of Saint-Pourçain is labelled by Alfred J. Freddoso and others mere conservation.[7][8] In the other direction, some followers of Descartes such as Louis de La Forge and Antoine Le Grand expanded the principle, as did Malebranche, into occasionalism.[9] An outright oppositional thesis is that of existential inertia.
The history of the concept goes back to Aquinas,[10] and it influenced early scientific ideas about conserved quantities. In the 20th century, it resurged in popularity in theological circles as a way for scientific theists to harmonize modern scientific principles with Christian doctrines. Not only as a way to support theistic evolution in the later 20th century, in the 1950s it provided centuries old theological support for the steady-state universe model via Aquinas' arguments about continuous creation as an aspect of God's creation of the universe from nothing.[b]
- ^ Hengstmengel 2019, p. 42.
- ^ Kopf 2023, p. 117.
- ^ McCann 2012, p. 24–25.
- ^ Mann 2004, p. 68.
- ^ a b c d e Sleigh Jr 1990, p. 172.
- ^ Ryan 2008, p. 38.
- ^ Hogan 2021, p. 266.
- ^ Lee 2017, pp. 122–123.
- ^ Ryan 2008, pp. 37–38.
- ^ Halvorson & Kragh 2013, p. 246.
- ^ Copan & Craig 2004, p. 149.
- ^ Loke 2022, p. 306.
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