Source: “The Death of Supernaturalism: The Case For Process Naturalism”, Copyright © 2025 by Chad Bahl, First Edition.
This topic challenges the traditional concept of supernaturalism, defining it as the belief in a deity who can unilaterally interrupt the fundamental causal processes of the world. The author traces the term’s medieval origins to theologians like Peter Lombard and Thomas Aquinas, arguing that this framework is a relatively recent Western development rather than a universal biblical concept. The core of the essay identifies four areas where this worldview fails: it creates an untenable theodicy by making God responsible for evil, creates a dichotomy with science that hinders intellectual inquiry, leaves the problem of divine hiddenness unresolved, and forces a strained, inerrant reading of Scripture. Ultimately, the author suggests that the decline in modern religious belief is tied to these conceptual failures, necessitating a move toward process naturalism as a more coherent alternative.
Dismantling Supernaturalism.pdf
Dismantling Supernaturalism.pptx
The_Supernatural_Is_a_Medieval_Invention.m4a
In the 1960s, American belief in the divine was a near-universal constant; Gallup recorded a staggering 98% of the population affirming God's existence. Today, that figure has drifted to 81%, with the decline accelerating among the young and the educated. For many, traditional "God-talk" no longer resonates, feeling increasingly irreconcilable with the logical and scientific frameworks of the twenty-first century.
Yet, as we dig through the conceptual strata of Western thought—a process of intellectual archaeology—we find that the crisis may not be a rejection of the divine itself, but rather a rejection of a specific, relatively recent architectural addition to faith: Supernaturalism. As defined by the philosopher David Ray Griffin, supernaturalism is "the idea of a divine being who can (and perhaps does) occasionally interrupt the world's most fundamental causal processes."
By deconstructing this concept, we discover that what many assume to be a bedrock foundation of religion is actually a medieval innovation that is becoming increasingly untenable in a scientific age. Here are five reasons why the concept of the "supernatural" is fading.