elsewhere<\/a>, the creationist \u2013 evolutionist debate illustrates that point vividly. The evolutionist who does not believe there is a God (there are those who do), argues that beyond the last process that we have identified and understood is another process that we have yet to identify and understand. But the creationists typically build a materialist set of assumptions into the argument that they make as well. Observing that beyond the last process that we have identified and understood one can find God, the creationist implicitly surrenders to materialism, relying on a God of the gaps or, perhaps better, a God of the margins.<\/p>\nIn reflecting on its impact over the years, I\u2019ve become convinced that the Eastern Orthodox tradition is more helpful than the western intellectual tradition on that score. The Orthodox have escaped our materialism, in part because their tradition was not as directly affected by the Enlightenment and, in part, because they have argued that the Triune God (who is both transcendent and immanent) is the one who created, enlivens and sustains the material, as well as the spiritual order.<\/p>\n
Sitting with that bit of wisdom has also led me to also question the usefulness of the word, \u201csupernatural.\u201d If the Triune God is, in fact, deeply engaged in the material, as well as the spiritual world, as the one who both authors and enlivens the created order, including the physical laws that govern it, what sense does it make to talk about a belief in God as a belief in that which is \u201csupernatural,\u201d i.e., \u201cbeyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature?\u201d The language itself reintroduces a bifurcated way of thinking about reality that is at odds with what Christians believe.<\/p>\n
By contrast, setting aside the assumptions and language that reinforce materialism makes it possible to think sacramentally about the whole of reality. Would that be helpful to Dreher\u2019s reader? I am not sure. I am <\/em>sure that beginning anywhere else makes grasping the possibility of the sacramental in the world around us all but impossible.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s time for us to abandon the language of the \u201csupernatural\u201d and begin thinking in more thoroughly faithful ways about the engagement of God with the whole of creation.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a recent article, entitled \u201cSearching for Ithaca,\u201d writer Rod Dreher featured a letter from a reader who outlined in poignant terms his desire for and failure to find the sacramental in the world. Longing to believe it was possible to believe in God \u2014 for his own sake and for his family \u2014 Dreher\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2398,2403,2401,2402,2603,2600],"tags":[2597,2591,2594,2588],"class_list":["post-2216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creation","category-creation-debate","category-creationism","category-evolution","category-sacramental","category-supernatural","tag-god","tag-materialism","tag-sacramental","tag-supernatural"],"yoast_head":"\n
Let\u2019s Stop Using the Word, \u201cSupernatural\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In a recent article, entitled \u201cSearching for Ithaca,\u201d writer Rod Dreher featured a letter from a reader who outlined in poignant terms his desire for and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2018\/06\/lets-stop-using-the-word-supernatural\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Let\u2019s Stop Using the Word, \u201cSupernatural\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a recent article, entitled \u201cSearching for Ithaca,\u201d writer Rod Dreher featured a letter from a reader who outlined in poignant terms his desire for and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2018\/06\/lets-stop-using-the-word-supernatural\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"What God Wants for Your Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-06T20:46:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-06-06T21:09:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/files\/2018\/06\/michelangelo-71282_1280.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Frederick Schmidt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Frederick Schmidt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2018\/06\/lets-stop-using-the-word-supernatural\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2018\/06\/lets-stop-using-the-word-supernatural\/\",\"name\":\"Let\u2019s Stop Using the Word, \u201cSupernatural\u201d\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-06T20:46:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-06T21:09:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/ddfdcfcb384439499b89f4fc91aa3f21\"},\"description\":\"In a recent article, entitled \u201cSearching for Ithaca,\u201d writer Rod Dreher featured a letter from a reader who outlined in poignant terms his desire for and\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2018\/06\/lets-stop-using-the-word-supernatural\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2018\/06\/lets-stop-using-the-word-supernatural\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2018\/06\/lets-stop-using-the-word-supernatural\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Let\u2019s Stop Using the Word, \u201cSupernatural\u201d\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/\",\"name\":\"What God Wants for Your Life\",\"description\":\"Thoughts on the perennial demands and changing shape of Christian spirituality.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/ddfdcfcb384439499b89f4fc91aa3f21\",\"name\":\"Frederick Schmidt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/683afd03c0a0abb940f8fe5cb3183269?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/683afd03c0a0abb940f8fe5cb3183269?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Frederick Schmidt\"},\"description\":\"The Reverend Dr. Frederick W. Schmidt, Jr. is inaugural holder of the Rueben P. Job Chair in Spiritual Formation and a Senior Scholar at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL. He is also Vice Rector at Good Shepherd, Brentwood, TN; an Episcopal Priest; spiritual director; retreat facilitator; conference leader; and writer. He is the author of numerous published articles and reviews, as well as several books: A Still Small Voice: Women, Ordination and the Church (Syracuse University Press, 1998), The Changing Face of God (Morehouse, 2000), When Suffering Persists (Morehouse, 2001), in Italian translation: Sofferenza, All ricerca di una riposta (Torino: Claudiana, 2004), What God Wants for Your Life \ufeff(Harper, 2005), Conversations with Scripture: Revelation (Morehouse, 2005), \ufeffConversations with Scripture: Luke \ufeff(Morehouse, 2009), and The Dave Test (Abingdon, 2013). He and his wife, Natalie (who is also an Episcopal priest), live in Arrington, TN. 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<\/a>In a recent article, entitled \u201cSearching for Ithaca,\u201d<\/a> writer Rod Dreher featured a letter from a reader who outlined in poignant terms his desire for and failure to find the sacramental in the world. Longing to believe it was possible to believe in God \u2014 for his own sake and for his family \u2014 Dreher\u2019s reader asks:<\/p>\n