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This article discusses John Chrysostom's interpretation of Job 38–41 as consolatory, which stands in stark contrast with an influential modern interpretation of the whirlwind speeches. As an investigation into patristic exegesis, it argues that John's approach is motivated by a desire to guide the reader to the contemplation of untamed nature for the purpose of consolation amid suffering. According to an influential scholarly view, the whirlwind speeches do not so much address Job's concerns as they seem simply to intimidate and belittle him. God puts Job, and humanity, in their place. By contrast, John Chrysostom reads the whirlwind speeches not as a demotion of Job's humanity and a dismissal of his persistent inquiries into divine providence. Rather, the speeches comprise an a fortiori argument for God's special care for human beings, offering consolation to Job in the midst of suffering. This article proceeds in four stages. First, it unpacks John's approach to contemplation of nature as a source for knowledge of providence. Second, it discusses his idea of providence as rooted in philanthrōpia, divine love for humanity. Third, it shows how the contemplation of untamed nature in Job 38–41 can function as a path to discovery of philanthrōpia. Finally, it shows how John constructs Job as an exemplary teacher who leads the reader to their own discovery of consolation. Throughout, it demonstrates how John's arguments are grounded in his reading of the Greek version of Job, notably in places where it differs significantly from the Hebrew. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores Eric Mascall's contribution to theodicy and (possibly) providence. It offers a taxonomy of Christian responses to the problem of evil: those which see suffering as instrumental to the purposes of God, those which see suffering as inevitable within the purposes of God, and those which see suffering as inimical to the purposes of God. It offers a critique of all three families of such responses. It then locates Mascall's theodicy on that 'map'. It argues that Mascall's proposal, if accepted, removes the main argument against the inimical family of responses, which it sees as fitting best with the healing ministry of Jesus, as being most unambiguously committed to the goodness of God, and as being the most pastorally sensitive of the three categories. It also raises, without advocating, the possibility that all divine action may be indirect, thus safeguarding the non-coerciveness of God without compromising eschatological hope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I explore three ways of reflecting on faith in God's providence and correlative understandings of prayer. My study suggests a praxeological understanding of the doctrine of providence as tacit knowledge. First, I present the soteriological dialogical approach of Catherine of Siena, from her late medieval Dialogue on providence. Secondly, I analyse the quietist vitalist approach of the early modern English philosopher Anne Conway in her Principles of Philosophy. Thirdly, I reflect on the critical, non-interventionist approach of the French philosopher and mystic Simone Weil. I conclude by discussing the interrelation between providence and prayer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meister Eckhart's sermons constantly invoke withdrawing from the created world and entering the soul's ground in God. Yet this withdrawal also means acting from that ground fully within the created world. This twofold aspect of Eckhart's mysticism implies an understanding of the created world itself in a mystical way. In this essay, I will seek to situate Eckhart's teaching on action and living virtuously within the medieval metaphysical and theological vision of the creation as a manifestation of God's transcendent wisdom and goodness. I will argue that true action in the world springs directly from the soul's ground in God and that such action is in accord with the order of nature and leads the created world itself back to God. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Academic Journal of Philosophy / Felsefi Düşün is the property of Pinhan Yayincilik and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Is it possible to overcome the inclination of a victim of violence to become a perpetrator? The objective of the article is to present a conceptual framework for a community that has the potential to interfere with the continuing cycle of violence in situations where the victim transitions into the perpetrator. We can address these inquiries by discussing providence Theology, vulnerable communities, trauma survivors, and the act of remembering to establish connections between these three aspects. Providence Theology embodies the Christian community as a person's providence capable of imagining the past, remembering the future, and enacting the present as a vulnerable community. Ultimately, we designate the concept as the vulnerable providence community by linking the imagination of past events with remembering God's future providence to enact the present and break out from the cycle of violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehending Fear and Trembling is no small task: the best that can be done is to pull at one thread at a time to slowly illuminate the whole. One such thread is the Fatherhood of God. Kierkegaard gave the pseudonymous Fear and Trembling with his left hand and the Upbuilding Discourses with his right hand. What can we conclude about the interplay between Fear and Trembling and these discourses? One outcome is a movement toward the Fatherhood of God. The anxiety of walking with Abraham to Moriah is supposed to lead the reader to maturely consider what it might mean to live in the world confident of the presence and purpose of God the Father. I propose we see Abraham holding not an "eschatological faith", but a faith in Fatherly providence. Kierkegaard understood his own complex life as held together by the Fatherly kindness of God or God's Governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses Mary Wollstonecraft's Of The Importance of Religious Opinions (1788), a translation of De l'Importance des Opinions Religieuses (1788) by Jacques Necker. I demonstrate that Necker's text resonates with Wollstonecraft's early works and those of her mentor, Dissenting theologian Richard Price, both for its Providentialism and for its onus on caritas, or "l'esprit de charité", a love of God expressed through love of our neighbours. For Wollstonecraft, Christian charity was coextensive with justice and could embrace the entire human family. I argue that Necker's text initially appealed to her for its representation of religion cultivating this expansive benevolence through sentiment refined by the imagination, depicted as a sacred faculty channelling our errant desires towards the divine. Whereas Necker envisages only celestial rewards in an incurably unjust society, however, Wollstonecraft subtly revises his text to foreground the imagination as the impetus to moral actions that participate in God's plan for human improvement. She thus imagines political justice in the form of a cosmopolitan ideal of universal benevolence, a heartfelt principle of action equally consonant with Christian charity and the demands of justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this note an allusion recreated from Seneca’s De providentia is rescued as it was hidden in the Octavius of Minucius Felix, which recovers and adapted some topics from the Senecan text in a few brief lines which have been hitherto practically unnoticed; if the allusion is verified, a more recent reading of Seneca’s writing would make full argumentative sense.

We propose to investigate Schopenhauer’s hypothesis of transcendent fatalism, namely, his conjecture that there seems to be a secret force that guides us better than ourselves, as he explains in Transcendent Speculation on the Apparent Deliberateness in the Fate of the Individual (1851). In this investigation, we will highlight his interpretation that this invisible force, called by the ancients Destiny (ειμαρμεχη), Demon (δαιμόν), or Providence (προνοια), symbolizes nothing other than our own nature or unconscious Will. Finally, we will also seek to contextualize that this interpretation of Schopenhauer, according to Marcel Zentner and Stephen Atzert, gives reason for Freud to cite that essay, in Beyond the Pleasure Principle, in connection with the psychoanalytic thesis of the unconscious choice of fate (unbewußten Schicksalswahl).

In this article, I explore the metaphor of the invisible hand of the market as a secularized form of the providential hand of God. I first explain the metaphor of the hand of God, which refers to God’s providential action found in the Old and New Testaments and serves as a symbol for how the world functioned in pre-modern times. I then show how the advent of modernity replaces the need for the hand of God with the new ideal of scientific progress, where human beings become the central agents of their future. Finally, I propose that already in modernity there is an appropriation of the hand of God within the capitalist logic, through Adam Smith and the invisible hand, but that moving forward to contemporaneity, the invisible hand is transformed into a secularized theology of providence based on Friedrich Hayek’s concept of the spontaneous order of the market.

From the origins of the Christian message, astrology was seen as a threat because of the belief in astral fatalism, which threatened not only human freedom but also faith in divine Providence. However, the rejection of the influence of the stars had different nuances both among the Fathers of the Church and in the Gnostic schools. The arguments used against astrology came, in some cases, from pre-Christian Hellenic philosophy and found their main support in the rejection of cosmic determinism. Christianity added its reticence to the divinatory practices of astrologers. The Gospel episode of the star of the East was the most studied for the elaboration of the oldest Christian diatribes against astrology, among which the Valentinians who are behind the text of the Extracts of Theodotus, reviewed by Clement of Alexandria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, Luis R. G. Oliveira has developed the 'symmetry challenge' as follows: (1) If God exists, then for all actual instances of evil e , God has justifying moral reasons for allowing e (the 'reasons' thesis). (2) If God has justifying moral reasons for allowing e , then we have justifying moral reasons for allowing e as well (symmetry thesis). (3) So, if God exists, then for all actual instances of e , we have justifying moral reasons for allowing e (Oliveira, 2023). Thus, per Oliveira, given God's sovereignty over evil, there is no ethical asymmetry which would compel a moral agent to prevent rather than permit a preventable evil. In this paper, I will defend the asymmetry claim and argue that Oliveira's argument ultimately fails. First, I will sketch Oliveira's argument. Then, I will briefly articulate a broadly Reformed-Thomistic model of providence which I will deploy in this article. Third, I will argue that this model of providence and the ethical aim of the Christian life generate two distinct yet inter-related reasons to hold to the asymmetry claim. Finally, I will canvas several theodicies my model rules out and anticipate several objections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Logos: Anales del Seminario de Metafísica (1575-6866) is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Within contemporary Christian philosophical theology, there are three broad theories of providence being debated. These are theological determinism, Molinism, and open theism. Of course, there are nuances amongst proponents of each theory, but the nuances are not terribly important for my purposes in this essay. I will argue that the basic conceptual machinery of each theory seems to entail divine temporality. Since open theists are already committed to divine temporality, there is nothing for me to argue there. Things get interesting when I consider theological determinism and Molinism. There are proponents of each view who already affirm divine temporality, but there are also proponents of each view who affirm divine timelessness. What I will argue is that theological determinism and Molinism are incompatible with divine timelessness. In order to make my case, I will start by defining some terms. Then, I will offer some arguments related to acting for a reason, divine freedom, and so-called logical moments in the life of a timeless God. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eben-ezer (1675) was the most successful Barbary captivity narrative and remains the most challenging. This article engages with debates over its authorship, publication history, purpose, and significance, and offers new information and interpretations on each aspect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent theological interpretations of entropy are almost univocally negative. Entropy is used as a stand-in for disorder, corruption, and evil. Responding to three reasons to correlate entropy and evil, this paper will argue instead that entropy is a good-but-fallen creaturely reality with a role to play in inspiring doxology. This paper argues that both entropy and heat death should be interpreted primarily in light of the doctrines of creation and providence, not eschatology and theodicy. Finally, Christian practices of figural interpretation are employed to interpret even heat death as an edifying phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay discusses how in Much Ado About Nothing, Measure for Measure, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest, providential events that work over and above those plays' benevolent manipulators serve to help bring about these plays' comic endings in ways that transcend human control, both its well-intended aspects as well as its problematic aspects. These providential events also offer grace and mercy toward the plays' various transgressors who, demonstrating repentance, are freed from the justice their transgressions merit and are consequently granted hopeful futures. By contrast, in the tragedies Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and King Lear, acts of misfortune help aid the malevolent machinations of those characters that manipulate others for their own wicked ends. But these incidents of bad fortune are not sufficient to bring about tragedy, but rather act in conjunction with the stubborn and violent decisions of the tragedy's protagonists, whose poor choices coincide with unfortunate developments to bring about tragedy for the protagonists and those whom they love. This essay maintains that the workings of Providence in these comedies and romances is in keeping with the Christian grounding evident throughout Shakespeare's dramas, concluding that in a fallen world, tragedy is normative, whereas providential intervention is necessary for the happy endings of the discussed comedies and romances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does God intervene in our lives? In this paper, I respond "yes" and work out a Thomistic account of special divine action in human life. I argue that God intensifies His action in moments that are particularly significant for our salvation. In such moments, God intervenes in a contingent mode and reorients our lives for the sake of our final good. First, I present Aquinas' terminological choice of specialis and intervenire and address concerns expressed in the contemporary divine action debate against the term "intervention". Second, I discuss the special divine action as a subtype of the special providence that rules over human beings. The special providence mirrors the special place of humans in the created order on account of their reason and freedom. Third, I show that divine interventions occur through irregular contingency. I refer to several interventions: test, habitual grace, God's moving of the will, God's enlightenment of the intellect, and punishment. Since it occurs contingently, the special divine action can be known through interpreting signs (a kind of conjectural knowledge). Fourth, I show that not all contingencies are divine interventions. To differentiate between them, I introduce an orientational criterion of interpretation: the transfiguration of a person's life toward her final good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a slightly modified version of the keynote lecture given at the 2023 annual conference of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain. The theme of the conference was the role of law in the Christian life. The paper opened the conference by following the theological lead of the Common Doctor, St Thomas Aquinas, who treats theology as about God and all things, including law, in relation to God. In particular the paper looks at Aquinas's understanding in the Summa Theologiae of God as the eternal law. It examines how the eternal law meets Aquinas's criteria for what counts as a law, and links eternal law to other law, such as natural law, as well as to the doctrines of the Trinity, providence, the beatific vision, and Christology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay develops a constructive account of the ways Anglicans have addressed political questions. The first section outlines the characteristic political rationality of Anglican political theology (APT). This provides a backdrop to a consideration of the relationship between three distinct yet interrelated phenomena—church, nation, and state—and how they were understood as together constituting a polity. The second half situates APT in the context of how Anglicanism, from its origins, is in part a response to processes of modernization, particularly as these emerged in the Atlantic world from the fifteenth century onwards. It then outlines how key concerns of APT emphasize a way of imagining the role of church and nation within history, with providence as an important doctrinal point of reference. The essay closes with some critical reflections on how APT can and should develop going forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article first aims to explain how God’s knowledge and power are revealed in the created things. It argues that since divine knowledge is infinite, the manifestation of this knowledge into existence, infinite discovery, and production in existence is possible. Indeed, limiting the manifestation of divine knowledge in existence to only one interpretation or discovery can reduce the potential for things to exist. Secondly, it attempts to prove that things are not ontologically evil, but good. Here, the attempt is based on the issue of general and specific experiences, and on the fact that reason always has the ability to overcome evil. Again, it was emphasized that the relationality of evil and the victimization and sufferings caused by the emergence of bad situations due to the conditions of time and space can be alleviated by the “belief in the hereafter” in the Islamic faith. Thirdly, it aims to briefly interpret general opinions on the nature of things in Islamic tradition. This issue is tried to be revealed with an example from history, and how those who say “things don’t have fixed and enduring nature” cause tragic consequences. The ideas that things have a fixed and permanent nature and that even seemingly extraordinary (miraculous) events can be explained within this nature are included. Finally, understanding providence is based on knowing and explaining causality in existence. The compatibility of this view with the principles of the Islamic faith is the underlying theme recurring throughout the article.

The Letters of Angélique Arnauld to the Queen of Poland Louise-Marie de Gonzague make up a good example of the rhetorical place that divine Providence can hold. Seeing as it is a matter of linking the earthly event to its superior causality, in order to lead the recipient of the letter to a renewed understanding of the world, Providence plays indeed the part of a rhetorical driving force: it becomes the principle making the world decipherable, and the horizon governing the implementation of emotions. Expanded to the dimension of eternity, the human event thus becomes a tragedy that can be requalified by a textual dynamic concerned both with commenting on it and with leaving it to its own mystery.

The doctrine of angels is not the heart of the gospel. However, it is also not extrinsic cultural symbolism borrowed from the surrounding culture, purely accidental, as a means through which the Christian faith expressed itself in the past, and which it could – or even should – abandon today in a profoundly different cultural context. Although it occupies only a peripheral and derivative place in the hierarchy of revealed truths, relative to the central mystery of God and his son, Jesus Christ, it is not to be neglected. Indeed, for Christian life and practice, belief in angels imparts specific characteristics (a strong doxological dimension, trust in providence, etc.), and legitimately captures the attention of the theologian seeking a more comprehensive understanding of revelation. Theological reflection on the invisible world of angels not only enriches the knowledge of the Creator and his work but also sheds light, indirectly, on most of the great mysteries of Christian doctrine. In this article, we will first examine the main themes of traditional teaching on angels from Holy Scripture and the church fathers, placing them in the religious, cultural and intellectual contexts in which they arose (section 1). We will then turn to the angelological synthesis developed by medieval scholastic theology, especially the doctrine of St Thomas Aquinas. Relying on both faith and metaphysical reason, scholastic theology explores the metaphysical nature of angels and the modalities of their spiritual operations, so as to better explain the supernatural mystery of the angels’ divine calling and sanctification, and the way in which they cooperate in the economy of salvation in Jesus Christ (section 2). While the Reformation did not challenge angelology but refocused it on scripture, the intellectual and cultural evolution of the modern and contemporary West led to a crisis of credibility in traditional teachings on angels. Angels have been expelled from the cosmos by the ‘disenchantment of the world’, of which the new vision of the universe induced by modern science is a major factor. Simultaneously, angels have been removed from what is considered revealed truths by the demythologization implemented by historical-critical exegesis. Therefore, contemporary theology seeks to update the traditional teaching while opening up new paths for an angelological doctrine, the theoretical and practical implications of which remain important (section 3). As a specific article in this encyclopaedia is dedicated to Satan and demons, we will confine ourselves here, as much as possible, to topics relating solely to ‘good angels’, even though the question of angels and demons is generally closely linked in theological reflection. There are only a few theologians, such as Karl Barth, who almost entirely dissociate angelology and demonology.

In this contribution, the Author focuses on Giambattista Vico's main text, the Scienza nuova (New Science) in the 1744 edition. Without claiming to offer an adequate reading of the Neapolitan philosopher's entire work, he attempts to show that today his vision of human nature remains useful also in the theological-moral field, in order to avoid contemporary misunderstandings regarding the traditional conception of the lex naturae. Likewise, Vico's vision of history, marked by a logic of 'responsorial' dialogue between human freedom and divine providence, still has much to say to contemporary man. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several authors have recently argued that the Reformed doctrine of providence poses particular problems of evil that are intractable. How can one hold to a robust, Reformed doctrine of providence without either making God the author of evil or turning God into a Machiavellian tyrant? In this paper, I outline a model of providence I call "Beatific Governance", in which God ordains and directs all that comes to pass unto the display of his beauty in all things without being the author of evil; and he does so, I argue, without violating an agent-causal view of freedom. I then resource this model to address several formulations of the problem of evil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the development of life annuities employed by charitable institutions in early modern Italy. These contracts enabled individuals to invest capital in exchange for a lifelong pension from a hospital or confraternity, and occasionally included the provision of ritual services. In the life annuities offered by these charitable organizations, the financial investment and life insurance were combined with the pro anima bequest. The immaterial and material aspects of the exchange complemented each other profitably, aiding in the recovery of uncertain resources (such as contested debts and properties) and facilitating tax exemptions for the annuities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the pre-March (Vormärz) period, i.e. in the first half of the 19th century, tragedy and the tragic experienced unprecedented interest not only on the part of playwrights and audiences, but also on the part of aestheticians and critics. This study focuses on several questions, namely: Where did this interest come from? Which forms of the tragic were popular and which were rejected? How did critics, such as Josef Jungmann, approach the questions of fatality and the (dis)proportion between the guilt and suffering of the tragic hero? Were the opinions of critics reflected in the works of playwrights? Were there differences in this respect between Czech- and German-written plays and reviews in the Czech lands? The first part of the study presents the main interpretive frameworks of tragedy that entered into the consideration of this genre in Central Europe and the Czech lands in the first third of the 19th century. Subsequently, attention is focused on the central dispute over fate and providence in tragedies. In the latter case, critics attempted to reconcile the tragic with the positive social values of Biedermeier culture at the cost of significantly narrowing the genre canon and rejecting the form of fatal tragedy. In the third part, the paper presents how the theoretical principles of criticism were reflected in the tragedies written in the Czech lands at that time. Especially in the case of tragic heroes chosen from national history, there was a tension between the need to motivate, in the spirit of poetic justice, the hero’s downfall by his bad character and the desire to portray the national hero as a moral authority. Finally, the last section of the paper focuses on the differences and similarities between these tendencies in Czech- and German-written criticism and drama from the Czech lands. While the arguments of critics against fatalism were similar on both sides, German-written plays seem to have overcome the paradigm of poetic justice slightly earlier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Narratives are fundamentals of storytelling. In Biblical literature, narratives do not only tell what happened (the context for God's revelation), they also indicate why what happened matters (the purpose of history). Employing a narrative methodology and a hermeneutic of identification as an interpretive approach, this article explores the Hagar–Ishmael narrative in Genesis 21: 9–21 against the background of those who have been marginalized, exploited, excluded, trafficked, and sitting in a wilderness of despair, struggle, and mistreatment and are in need of survival. The exploration seeks to understand the narrative structure, plot, characters, and themes within the text. The Hagar–Ishmael position is too painfully close to the realities of many today. In this narrative account, one finds a pitiable scene of human suffering and misery, and yet it is bounded by divine mercy and compassion. The stream of helplessness and consequent hope of survival shows that, no matter how mistreated people might have been, they can rise above their "victimization" and embrace the promises of God by staving off defeat, shaking off despair, and vanquishing discouragement. Thus with a hermeneutic of identification, readers are encouraged to identify with the characters, situations, and experiences described in the biblical narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni is the property of Editrice Morcelliana S.p.A. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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Broadly drawing on the writings of Thomas Aquinas, this article is a systematic‐theological (rather than historical‐theological) engagement with the theme of providence and divine causality. It aims to dispel some modern misunderstandings of these topics by highlighting how pre‐modern approaches differ from today's perspective. It does so by arguing, firstly, that Thomas, given his teleological focus, construes divine causality not so much as efficient causality but rather in terms of final causality. I will also make the point that Thomas's calling God a 'universal cause' should not be construed in terms of omni‐causality, as if God predetermines every event (be it necessarily or contingently). In the final part of this contribution, I make some observations on the arbitrariness of afflictions and the connection with the gratuitousness of charity within the providential ordering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bu çalışmada Paul Helm’in ilahi inayet doktrini üzerinden geliştirdiği teolojik determinist görüşünü ele alacağız. Helm’e göre, bütün âlemde her şey Tanrı’nın inayeti kaynaklı takdirine uygun olarak meydana gelir. Bu yaklaşımda, Tanrı’nın önbilgisini insanın özgürlüğü ile mezcetme konusunda birtakım zorluklar ve böyle bir âlemde kötülüklerin neden var olduğuyla ilgili bazı problemler ortaya çıkmaktadır. İnsanın özgürlüğünü “bağdaşırcı özgür irade” üzerinden açıklayan Helm’e göre, her şeyin Tanrı’nın takdirine uygun olarak meydana geldiği dünyamızda insan yaptığı eylemlerden sorumludur. Muhaliflere göre, onun bu yaklaşımı Tanrı’yı kötü eylemlerin faili yapmaktadır. Helm’e göre ise insanın özgürlüğü determinizmin her türüyle bağdaştığı gibi ilahi determinizm ile de bağdaşabilir, bu nedenle insan yaptığı eylemlerden sorumludur. Dünyamızda neden kötülüklerin var olduğuyla ilgili “daha büyük iyi savunmasını” yapan Helm’e göre, Tanrı’nın bazı kötülüklere izin verdiğiyle ilgili gerekçelerini bilmek her zaman mümkün değildir. Onun bu açıklaması genel manada sağduyulu ve makul görünse de özellikle bazı korkunç kötülüklerin açıklanması konusunda tatmin edici olmayabilir.

This short article is an engagement with John Clifford's book God's Greater Britain and other writings with regard to his thoughts on the British Empire. The article seeks to make a contribution to a small growing exploration of Baptists and imperialism. It concludes by asking how we view Clifford's imperialism in the context of his time and the present day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The controversial Israeli public intellectual Yeshayahu Leibowitz (1903–1994) has jokingly been called "the Leibowitzer Rebbe." The humor is in the obvious incongruity of associating Leibowitz with anything Hasidic. He was the most rationalist of religious thinkers and said disparaging things about Hasidism and its leaders. Yet Leibowitz and Hasidism are closer than they appear. Building on insights from other scholars, I will show the affinities between Leibowitz and some of the Hasidic masters. Drawing on his writings, interviews, and correspondence, I will demonstrate that Leibowitz read and cited Hasidic books; he engaged with Hasidic teachings, and acknowledged learning from them. I argue that a full understanding of his challenging thinking must take Hasidic sources into account. This paper makes a contribution to scholarship on Leibowitz, one of the most interesting modern Jewish thinkers, and to our understanding of the relationship of Hasidism with modern Judaism as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating the research question of how divine apostolicity affects God's interaction with the world and humanity, predicates apostolicity as being a divine attribute. The logical extension therefore necessitates consideration of the apostolic attribute as an ontological, Trinitarian and operational characteristic demonstrated in the divine-human inter-relationship. Knowledge was drawn from relevant and authoritative sources: Ancient Near Eastern, Israelite, biblical, Hellenistic, reformation and contemporary theological and scientific. They were examined to accurately articulate diverse academic views, to provide critical appraisal of historical, theological and scientific investigation and theoretical frameworks, axiomatic for current and future research. The research method was of necessity an ontological consideration of the nature of God as a transcendent-immanent and relational reality. Epistemological analysis examines the multiple and developing theories of causation, of divine providence determinist or necessitarian, indeterminist or contingent, or an open participatory view of natural order. Philosophical, theological and scientific paradigms expose the founding theoretical principles confronting positivist-determinist and post-positivist-contingent views, thereafter enabling the proposition of an apostolic paradigm. (Cohen et al., 2018: 3, 5-6, 10, 14, 16, 18, 28, 34). The apostolic paradigm articulates a dynamic relationship to the world and humanity with particular attention to New Testament incarnational Christological and pneumatological parameters that postulate a paradigm change and subsequent rereading of the worldview through apostolic dynamic phases. Herein lies the contribution to the existing body of knowledge and contemporary biblical worldview developments in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is the doctrine of providence a guide to interpreting history? The early work of John Milton is optimistic about the possibility of such providential discernment. Milton lived during one of the most turbulent periods of English history and was actively involved in the cause of revolution and social reform. His poems typically centre on moments of historical change that seem to illuminate the ultimate meaning of history. After his revolutionary hopes had been shattered, Milton came to perceive a much more ambiguous relationship between history and providence. What history reveals, he now thought, is mostly a pattern of repetition and decline. Milton ends Paradise Lost with the reflection that belief in providence is not so much a species of knowledge as a practice of life. This article traces Milton's movement from providential optimism to providential pessimism and argues for a conception of history in which even acts of divine intervention do not unambiguously alter the course of history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The indispensable corollary to shameful memories ought to be repentance. Tellingly so, no such notion appears in Edmund Burke’s writings about the French Revolution and Ireland. After all, the French revolutionaries with their tabula rasa were, as if necessarily so, immune to repentance: they, and their British supporters, were content to repeat those hallowed moments in the past where some supposed evil had been stifled, as with the execution of Charles I; as for Irish Protestants, they were not inclined to abandon what enabled them to crush their coreligionists of the older persuasion, even though this led them to overlook that English oppression bore on them and Catholics alike. Burke engaged in historiographical issues that, by redressing erroneous outlooks on past events, might have provided a sense of unity against a common enemy. His efforts were as damningly shaky as could be found, and he could not have been entirely convinced by his own rhetoric which tried to identify early forms of worship and/or political arrangements that could have supplied the solution. The foundation of such political analyses seems to derive from his juvenilia, specifically his Sublime and Beautiful, where the figure of Job casts doubt on the very relevance of repentance. Ultimately, shameful memories, with their nonexistent sequel, repentance, have precious little to tell of Burke’s engagement with the future where the latter emerges as the bottom line of one who is only too easily regarded as an exponent of the pleas of the past against the present day.