Supernatural
Supernatural
An occurrence in violation of the known laws of nature. This was a concept that developed as the idea of a law-abiding nature was developed in the Middle Ages. The supernatural realm included both the heavenly world of God and the angels and the world of Satan and demons.
Many leaders of the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century were exponents of Deism, a view that drew a sharp line between the natural and supernatural realms and denied that the two interact. Spiritualism reacted to such a view: it suggested that phenomena that had previously been viewed as supernatural actually happened, and it also suggested that they occurred in accordance with natural laws, laws as yet unknown or undefined by science.
Now, the term "paranormal" is more generally used to describe such extraordinary phenomena.
