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Article: Causality, Primary and Secondary
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- Encyclopedia of Science and Religion
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Causality, Primary and Secondary
In the history of Christian thought, the philosopher Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225
–
1274) refers to God as the "Primary Cause" of the being of everything; Aquinas refers to creatures as "secondary causes" whose activity reaches particular aspects and depends on divine action. These concepts are related to core Christian ideas of God and creatures. God's being does not depend on anything outside God, is self-sufficient, and is the fountain of the being of all that exists. Creatures have their own consistency but require the divine founding action that makes possible their existence and activity.
The Primary Cause is unique. It is not the first of a ...