The Fallen Cosmos: An Aspect of Eastern Christian Thought and its Relevance to the Dialogue Between Science and Theology

Abstract

The Eastern Christian concept of the cosmic implications of the “Fall” is explored, and the relevance of this concept to current discussions about the problem of evil and divine action are outlined. It is argued, in particular, that divine action—including those aspects of it that are usually expressed in terms of the miraculous—may be interpreted in terms of a framework in which the Eastern notion of a cosmic Fall may be seen as complementing a strong theistic naturalism of a contemporary Western kind.