Divine Action and Providence


Book Description

Thinking Clearly and Deeply about the Theology of God's Intervention in the World. The claim that God acts in the world is surely a basic theological claim, but it's one that has been understood in a wide variety of ways in the Christian theological tradition. In some accounts, God appears as the largest, first, and most powerful agent. In others, God is portrayed as the transcendent ground of all finite agency, while never acting on the same plane as other agents... Divine Action and Providence represents the proceedings of the seventh annual Los Angeles Theology Conference, which invited theologians across Christian traditions to contribute their constructive accounts and proposals to the theology of God's relation to and intervention in the world. The eleven diverse essays in this collection include discussions on: The particularity and detail of divine action. Recovering the identity of the God of providence. The theological meaning of the course of history. The nature of omnipotence. Each of the essays collected in this volume engage with Scripture as well as with others in the field—theologians both past and present, from different confessions—in order to provide constructive resources for contemporary systematic theology and to forge a theology for the future.




Providence Perceived


Book Description

This book will offer an account not so much of God’s Providence an sich, but rather of divine providence as experienced by believers and unbelievers. It will not ask questions about whether and how God knows the future, or how suffering can be accounted for (as is the case in the treatments by William Lane Craig, Richard Swinburne, or J. Sanders), but will focus on prayer and decision-making as a faithful and/or desperate response to the perception of God as having some controlling influence. The following gives an idea of the ground to be covered: The patristic foundations of the Christian view of Providence; The medieval synthesis of ‘objective’ and ‘subjective’ views; Reformational and Early Modern: the shift towards piety; Modern Enlightenment: Providence and Ethics; Barth and the Sceptics; The sense of Providence in the Modern Novel and World.




Providence and Science in a World of Contingency


Book Description

Providence and Science in a World of Contingency offers a novel assessment of the contemporary debate over divine providential action and the natural sciences, suggesting a re-consideration of Thomas Aquinas’ metaphysical doctrine of providence coupled with his account of natural contingency. By looking at the history of debates over providence and nature, the volume provides a set of criteria to evaluate providential divine action models, challenging the underlying, theologically contentious assumptions of current discussions on divine providential action. Such assumptions include that God needs causally open spaces in the created world in order to act in it providentially, and the unfitting conclusion that, if this is the case, then God is assumed to act as another cause among causes. In response to these shortcomings, the book presents a comprehensive account of Aquinas’ metaphysics of natural causation, contingency, and their relation to divine providence. It offers a fresh and bold metaphysical narrative, based on the thought of Thomas Aquinas, which appreciates the relation between divine providence and natural contingency.




Chance or Providence


Book Description

Belief in some sort of providence is widespread, even among those who do not profess any kind of conventional religious faith. The belief that some sort of benevolent divine force directs the events of the universe is one that has shaped our philosophical and theological convictions, together with our economic and social political landscape. The 2013 conference of the Science and Religion Forum was convened to discuss some of the most pressing questions that arise from a consideration of providence: Is a belief in providence compatible with freedom? What of the suffering of non-human creatures? Should providence be thought of as general or as special intervention? How might a belief in providence be squared with the challenges raised by scientific naturalism and the theory of evolution? This book presents chapters that originated from that conference, and explores a variety of responses to these critical questions. Insights from both science and theology are drawn together by some of the leading thinkers in this field. The result is a contribution to the theology of providence which will be of substantial value to all those interested in the conversation between science and religion.




Unlocking Divine Action


Book Description

Provides a sustained account of how the thought of Aquinas may be used in conjunction with contemporary science to deepen our understanding of divine action and address such issues as creation, providence, prayer, and miracles.




Divine Action and Providence


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Divine Action


Book Description




The Providence of God


Book Description

An exploration of the theology of divine providence that is both critical and constructive in its outcomes.




Divine Action and Modern Science


Book Description

A radical critique of current attempts to reconcile natural sciences with the concept of divine action.




How God Acts


Book Description

From providence and miracles to resurrection and intercessory prayer, Edwards shows how a basically noninterventionist model of divine action does justice to the universe as we know and also to central convictions of Christian faith about the goodness of God, the promises of God, and the fulfillment of creation. Here is wonderfully lucid theology supporting an excitement of how God is at work in the universe.