Divine Agency

Our experiences in the natural world seem to fall neatly into two categories: those that seem law-like in regularity, and those that seem due to chance. There doesn't seem to be a pressing need for Divine action as a distinct third category. This is especially true if we limit our observations to classical levels of complexity and scale - here we detect a robust determinism with strict observance of conservation laws. On the other hand, our observations at the quantum scale lead us to the reasoned conclusion that the future is in some limited sense open, or "not decided" (to quote Bohr). Here even conservation laws can be bent, at least temporarily. Below I shall survey a few ways in which Divine action can potentially be included in a scientific framework that deals primarily in terms of necessity and chance.

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