Three Theological Mistakes

Is the existence of God a matter of faith or knowledge? Does God sometimes act miraculously or are there physical causes for everything? Is morality absolute or relative? Are humans truly free or does God's sovereignty determine everything? When bad things happen, is God the cause or are they the fault of humans? Too frequently Christians answer these questions with a 'Yes' to one side and a 'No' to the other side. Thomas Aquinas and Karl Barth answer 'Yes' on both. Following their model, Machuga defends a 'third way' that transcends the Enlightenment dichotomies of fideism versus rationalism, supernaturalism versus naturalism, relativism versus absolutism, free will versus predestination, and God's justice versus his mercy. Machuga begins by showing how these false dichotomies grew out of the Enlightenment assumptions of mechanism, universal quantification, and mono-causation. He then corrects these demonstrably dubious assumptions by articulating a theory of dual-causation. The result is a thoroughly biblical understanding of God, miracles, and free will that can withstand the contemporary criticisms of both science and philosophy.