scientia media

(Latin, middle knowledge) The special way God has of knowing the truth about future events, which is supposed to reconcile his present knowledge of them with the possibility that they depend upon real, open choices. The key idea is that there is a simultaneous act of God's giving grace and the individual freely accepting it, rather than a prior donation of grace that determines the individual's acceptance. The concept was elaborated in the Concordia of Luis de Molina and was the cause of fierce controversy with the followers of Aquinas, who objected that the efficacy of divine grace cannot depend upon us. See also omniscience.