Many years ago I read a statement somewhere that among the points all Catholics must hold regarding the history of the physical universe is that not only did God create it out of nothing but also that he brought it to its current form through a series of divine interventions or miracles. Unfortunately I have forgotten where I read this and what if any authoritative source the author quoted to support this assertion.
I know that evolution is a banned topic on this forum, but I'm not discussing that specifically. What I'm wondering about is the broader question. Is it permissible for a Catholic to entertain the notion that after the creation of the universe ex nihilo (if this is to be thought of as a temporal event at all- another interesting philosophical question that perhaps I'll start a thread on) and before the creation of the first man the universe simply developed providentially according to its own natural "laws", founded of course in the creative and sustaining action of God? Or must we hold that God intervened in an extraordinary and supernatural way at an unspecified number of steps in the process?
I know that evolution is a banned topic on this forum, but I'm not discussing that specifically. What I'm wondering about is the broader question. Is it permissible for a Catholic to entertain the notion that after the creation of the universe ex nihilo (if this is to be thought of as a temporal event at all- another interesting philosophical question that perhaps I'll start a thread on) and before the creation of the first man the universe simply developed providentially according to its own natural "laws", founded of course in the creative and sustaining action of God? Or must we hold that God intervened in an extraordinary and supernatural way at an unspecified number of steps in the process?