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Creation, Preservation, and Teleology in Catholic Theology

Creation, Preservation, and Teleology in Catholic Theology

Last updated on: October 18, 2026 at 10:42 am by David Schloss

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Creation, Preservation, and Teleology in Catholic Theology 2026-10-18T10:42:29-04:00 David Schloss

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God’s Governance.

As I write this, it is very early Monday morning. Like millions of others, I will begin working soon. Can we (analogically) apply the concept of work to God?

In this paper, I will suggest and examine the three kinds of work God engages in. We begin with the one most associated with God.

Creation

Almost without question, the work or activity most associated with God is that of creation. Since the Bible begins with God creating the world, this is not surprising.

Catholicism teaches that God created the universe out of nothing (ex nihilo) with order, purpose, and inherent goodness. The concept of creation ex nihilo holds that God brought all matter, time, and spiritual realms into existence without preexisting material.

In Genesis, we are told God “speaks” creation into existence. This is to claim that God’s word (Logos) is a living, active force that brings physical and spiritual realities into existence through spoken command. The creation narratives convey three core truths about creation and human origins.

First, God is the definitive origin of the cosmos and time (ab initio temporis). Second, God created humanity directly in His own image and likeness, with an immortal soul. And third, original sin entered the world through a real historical turning point (the Fall of our first parents), creating the need for a Redeemer.

While Scripture declares creation good, Catholic theology holds that all that is created requires conservation and preservation.

Preservation

In 1624, Lord Edward Herbert of Cherbury published a series of articles entitled De Veritate (On Truth). His work gave birth to a theological concept called deism. Deism emerged from an attempt to inject strict rationalism into religious belief. Deism asserts that God is a benevolent but distant Creator who is known through nature and human reason.

Catholicism does not deny that God is benevolent or that nature and human reason are vehicles by which God makes Himself known to human beings. However, unlike deism, the God of the Bible is a personal being deeply concerned with the affairs of His creation.

Of particular consideration to Catholic theology is that God is not only the cause of the universe, but sustains all of creation in its existence, moment to moment. In following Thomas Aquinas’s metaphysics (most notably articulated in the Summa Theologiae), this sustaining of the created realm is called divine preservation or conservation.

This concept has several aspects. First, as noted above, God does not create the universe and leave it alone; He continually sustains its existence and being. As such, every creature relies completely on God at every single moment for its very existence and power to act.

Additionally, preservation is the first foundational step of Divine Providence. God’s preservation and governance guide creation toward its ultimate end. This matter is discussed in the next section.

Finally, God utilizes secondary causes. That is, God acts as the primary “first cause” sustaining all things, while allowing created beings to act as free “secondary causes” within His plan. Still, we must explore why creation requires this kind of care.

Catholic philosophy asserts that conservation is necessary because created things do not contain within themselves the sufficient reason for their continued existence. Moreover, creation is not a one-time historical event, but an ongoing relation of dependency between creature and Creator.

Thomas Aquinas grounds this necessity in three core metaphysical claims. We begin with the foundational distinction between essence and existence. Put simply, essence refers to what something is. This is often synonymous with a thing’s nature. Existence refers to that something is; it is present in reality. Such a distinction allows for the analysis of a thing’s essence (e.g., human nature) apart from a thing’s existence (e.g., a specific person).

When we apply this concept to God, Catholicism holds that God is Actus Purus (Pure Act) and Ipsum Esse Subsistens (Substantive Being Itself). This means God’s essence is identical with His existence. In contrast, the essence and existence of created things are distinct.

This is a significant point. Because God’s nature is to exist (since they are identical in Him), God is a necessary being; He cannot not exist. Obviously, this is not true of created entities, whose essence and existence are distinct.

Now, a creature’s essence defines what kind of thing it is, but that essence does not guarantee or require its existence. Moreover, because existence is not part of a creature’s nature, an external cause must communicate it to the creature.

Therefore, a creature can exist only as long as it receives existence from the entity whose very essence is existence: God. An analogy may clarify this concept.

The sun illuminates the air. Light in the air depends entirely on the sun’s continuous action. If the sun sets or is blocked, the light immediately vanishes, because the air does not possess light by its own nature.

Because God is the cause of being as such (not merely the cause of a change or reordering of preexisting matter), creatures relate to God as air relates to light. Were God to withdraw His sustaining power, all creatures would immediately lapse into non-being.

Finally, preservation is not a secondary action distinct from creation. Rather, preservation is simply the continuation of creation. God sustains all things because being is an effect that belongs exclusively to God’s proper nature.

To speak of governing and sustaining a thing is also to speak of a purpose or teleology for its presence.

Teleology

The universe, the planet we inhabit, and life itself need not exist. The fact that they do suggests not only a transcendent cause but also a purpose for their existence. After all, if a thing need not exist, it must have been created for a purpose. This position is essentially a derivative of Leibniz’s “principle of sufficient reason.”

This principle suggests that everything that is created is created for a purpose. This also lets us explain things, actions, or natural events by their final purpose or goal rather than only their physical causes. This concept is called teleology.

Drawing from Aristotle and synthesized by theologians like Saint Thomas Aquinas, Catholic philosophy teaches that everything in nature is created for and directed toward specific ends. For humans, this purpose is rooted in both our created nature and our relationship with the Divine.

In light of this, we can identify four principles of human teleology from a biblical perspective.

First, the universe exhibits signs of contingency (it does not contain the cause of its own existence) and design (it possesses an internal and inherent nature that precludes chance).

Second, because human beings are made in God’s image, they possess intellect and free will. This allows humans to consciously understand and choose to align (or not, as the case may be) their actions with God’s will.

Third, and relatedly, human beings are intended to participate in natural law. In turn, natural law is the mind of God made manifest by His creation. For this reason, humans have access to an objective moral standard grounded in God’s will.

Finally, human existence has an ultimate purpose: communion with God. Human flourishing, happiness, and true freedom are achieved only when human faculties and free will are directed toward their final transcendent end: to know, love, and serve God.

Conclusion

This paper has suggested that God has three “jobs”: Creator, sustainer, and end of creation. To some extent, such a description is a misnomer. A job suggests (although not necessarily) some kind of compulsion, as if God is required to do these things. Obviously, that is not the case.

Additionally, we should not think of the three “jobs” as being entirely separate. Rather, God as creator, preserver, and end (summum bonum) are all part of God’s nature.

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