Origen wrote his commentaries on Genesis around AD 232. He was arguably one of the brightest minds among all the Church fathers, a brilliant thinker and deeply devout Man of God. While he was not always orthodox, and I do not ascribe to many of his teachings, here is an amazing quote from those commentaries:
"When God undertook in the beginning to create the world - for nothing that comes to be is without a cause - each of the things that would ever exist was presented to His mind. He saw what else would result when such a thing were produced; and if such result were accomplished, what else would accompany; and what else would be the result even of this when it would come about. And so on to the conclusion of the sequence of events, He knew what would be, without being altogether the cause of the coming to be of each of the things which He knew would happen."
Commentaries on Genesis 3, 6, as quoted in The Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. 1.
This is not just a discussion of the general fact that God knows the future and all that will happen. It is specifically a discussion of the creation of things and what will be additionally produced as a result of that creation process. This could almost have been written by a modern TE.
BTW, I am not indicating that Origen believed in even a form of evolution per se, but that he did realize that God, while knowing exactly what further developments would occur from His initial creation, He was not a direct causitive agent of each development. Origen does see God as allowing things to develop on their own (which does not preclude, of course, His willingness to intervene when and where He sees fit). Besides, I just found the quote really intriguing given the nature of TE beliefs.
"When God undertook in the beginning to create the world - for nothing that comes to be is without a cause - each of the things that would ever exist was presented to His mind. He saw what else would result when such a thing were produced; and if such result were accomplished, what else would accompany; and what else would be the result even of this when it would come about. And so on to the conclusion of the sequence of events, He knew what would be, without being altogether the cause of the coming to be of each of the things which He knew would happen."
Commentaries on Genesis 3, 6, as quoted in The Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. 1.
This is not just a discussion of the general fact that God knows the future and all that will happen. It is specifically a discussion of the creation of things and what will be additionally produced as a result of that creation process. This could almost have been written by a modern TE.
BTW, I am not indicating that Origen believed in even a form of evolution per se, but that he did realize that God, while knowing exactly what further developments would occur from His initial creation, He was not a direct causitive agent of each development. Origen does see God as allowing things to develop on their own (which does not preclude, of course, His willingness to intervene when and where He sees fit). Besides, I just found the quote really intriguing given the nature of TE beliefs.
