PRETERNATURAL

A concept used mainly for certain gifts of the state of original justice and for the theology of miracles.

Concept. Preternatural is a division of the supernatural: generally it is defined, by contrast with the simply or absolutely supernatural, as the supernatural in a certain sense (secundum quid ) or the relatively supernatural. (Some authors, however, identify preternatural with the modally supernatural as opposed to the substantially supernatural.) Whereas the simply or absolutely supernatural is a gift of God surpassing the powers and exigencies of every possible creature (e.g., the beatific vision), the preternatural surpasses the powers and exigencies of only some particular nature (e.g., the immortality possible to Adam, which surpassed the powers and exigencies of human but not angelic nature). Thus the preternatural is supernatural only with respect to some particular nature. Further, unlike the simply supernatural, the preternatural does not elevate the creature to share the life of the Trinity but adds something that perfects this nature in its own order (thus Adam's gift of immortality would have perfected his human life by preserving it perpetually).

Word. Preternatural comes from Latin praeter naturam, a phrase used of miracles by, among others, Ambrose (De Mysteriis 9.51, 53), Peter Chrysologus (Sermon 156), Peter Lombard (2 Sentences 18.6), and Thomas Aquinas (De potentia 6.2 ad 3), who also applies it to a body's unnatural place and the separated soul's mode of knowing (Summa theologiae 1a, 89.1). John Damascene (in Burgundio's translation) speaks of a disordered moral life as praeter naturam (De fide orthodoxa 3.14). Praeternaturalis itself is used by Albert the Great of the heat of hectic fever (Metaphysicorum 2.11) and by Aquinas of a violent cause (In 2 In libros de caelo et mundo expositio 28.1; cf. Contra gentiles 1.19); in Albert it means contra naturam, in Aquinas it means that which is not in accord with nature. Cajetan, however, distinguishes praeternaturalis from contra naturam in describing the separated soul's mode of knowing (in Summa theologiae 1, 89.1 no. 13), and Suárez presents it as a mode of the supernatural when using it of miracles (De gratia 2.4.4; De substantiis separatis, seu de angelorum natura 2.29.2). Only in the 19th century does the word come into common use concerning certain gifts of original justice; in theology today this application tends to predominate.

Miracles. The notion of preternatural is strictly verified in those miracles where natural causes could produce the effect, but not in the mode employed by the divine power (e.g., a sudden cure): the mode of activity surpasses the power of the creature involved, but the creature is not elevated to a higher order of being. In this strict sense miracles praeter naturam form one class of miracles among others; some theologians, however, call all miracles preternatural to distinguish them from simply super-natural effects. By extension preternatural is applied to the extraordinary but not strictly miraculous effects of angelic or diabolic activity in lower beings; some, indeed, maintain this to be the proper use of the term in this area. (see miracles (theology of).)

Gifts of Adam. Besides the simply supernatural gift of grace, Adam was given the gift of integrity and bodily immortality (on other gifts see original justice). The preternatural quality of these gifts other than grace is vital to Catholic teaching about the effects of original sin: were they natural to man, their loss would entail an intrinsic corruption of human nature; since they were preternatural, their deprivation as punishment left man intrinsically whole and good. Although the Fathers and earlier theologians had with varying terminology taught the supernaturality of these gifts, M. Baius in the 16th century, and later the Jansenists, held that Adam's grace, integrity, and bodily immortality were natural as due to man by an exigency of his nature, that their loss brought evil to human nature intrinsically. (see baius and baianism; jansenism.) The Church's rejection of this (H. Denzinger, Enchiridion symbolorum, ed. A. Schönmetzer [32d ed. Freiburg 1963] 1921, 1923–24, 1926, 1955, 1978, 2616–17) led to more detailed study of the supernaturality of Adam's prerogatives and to a clearer distinction of grace from the other gifts. The latter were now said to be supernatural secundum quid or quoad modum or per accidens and, later on, preternatural. While Biblical research and paleontology today lead theologians to reexamine the number and content of these gifts, they hold in common that those present in Adam were preternatural.

The concept of preternatural is also used in eschatology, where it is applied to the separated soul's mode of knowing and to the final perfecting of the entire created universe under the headship of Christ.

See Also: concupiscence; elevation of man; grace, articles on; man, 3; natural order; obediential potency; pure nature, state of; supernatural order.

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[w. h. principe]