Quantum Occasionalism

Russell has applied quantum theory thinking about cause to evolutionary biology (genetics/variation) and explored its implications for divine action in the natural world. Russell uses the backdrop As genetic mutations can be caused by quantum level processes, the quantum effect is demonstrated to have macroscopic consequences (cite) to postulate how a theistic evolution would work through such processes (cite primary Russel).. If occasionalism is taken absolutely into the quantum realm, with God strictly in control of all creation, its significance is intensified into what may be called quantum occasionalism. With increasing knowledge of the complexity of quantum relationships, such an occasionalism would clarify various otherwise inexplicable

occurrences, whilst concurrently presenting a determinism that is hard to reconcile with any notion of (secondary) causality (or free will) whatsoever. Yet what quantum mechanics appears to show is that the quantum realm is ruled by indeterminism, which does not sit well with a theological conception of divine action in the world. Yet a God who only intervenes on occasion would appear selective or opportunistic, which is also a contentious notion. Whilst these issues represent the quantum equivalent of the theological problem of accounting for divine action in the world, they may, as Russell argues, also help with proposing an appropriate resolution.

As the EPR paper suggests (HANDLE BASED ON FOOTNOTE!), further studies may discover a determinism to complete quantum theory, offering a balance between both non-absolute occasionalism and (secondary) causality at play. Whilst the balance argued for in mainstream (Abrahamic) theology between free will and determinism continues to undergo debate on the quantum level, Russell has argued that a reconciliation may be possible if determinism is seen to operate on the quantum level, but that as increasing life and consciousness arise, determinism gradually ceases and top-down causality begins to influence outcomes. Thus the necessary theological accommodation of and balance between God’s action in the world of creation and creation’s own actions within it can be mirrored in the determinism and then secondary causality existent in and between the quantum and macro-level in the universe.