Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-47500-6 — The Providence of God David Fergusson Frontmatter More Information i

h e Providence of God

h e concept of providence is embedded in the life and of the church. Its uses are frequent and varied in understandings of politics, nature and individual life stories. Parallels can be discerned in other faiths. In this volume, David Fergusson traces the development of providen- tial ideas at successive periods in church history. h ese include the early appropriation of Stoic and Platonic ideas, the codii cation of providence in the Middle Ages, its foregrounding in Reformed theology and its secular applications in the modern era. Responses to the Lisbon earthquake (1755) provide an instructive case study. Although coni dence in divine provi- dence was shaken at er 1914, several models were advanced during the twentieth century. Drawing upon this diversity of approaches, Fergusson of ers a chastened but constructive account for the contemporary church. Arguing for a polyphonic approach, he aims to distribute providence across all three articles of the faith.

David Fergusson is Professor of Divinity at the . He is the author and editor of more than i t een books, including Faith and Its Critics, based on the Gif ord Lectures delivered at the . A Fellow of the British Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, he is co-editor (with Mark Elliott) of a three- volume History of Scottish h eology (forthcoming).

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CURRENT ISSUES IN THEOLOGY

General Editor:

Iain Torrance Pro-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen

Editorial Advisory Board:

David Ford University of Cambridge Bryan Spinks Yale University Kathryn Tanner Yale Divinity School

h ere is a need among upper- undergraduate and graduate students of theology, as well as among Christian teachers and church professionals, for a series of short, focussed studies of particular key topics in theology written by prominent theologians. Current Issues in h eology meets this need. h e books in the series are designed to provide a ‘state- of- the- art’ statement on the topic in question, engaging with contemporary thinking as well as providing original insights. h e aim is to publish books which stand between the static monograph genre and the more immediate statement of a journal article, by authors who are questioning existing paradigms or rethinking perspectives.

Other titles in the series: Holy Scripture John Webster h e Just War Revisited Oliver O’Donovan Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies? N a n c e y M u r p h y Christ and Horrors Marilyn McCord Adams Divinity and Humanity Oliver D. Crisp h e Eucharist and Ecumenism George Hunsinger Christ the Key Kathryn Tanner h eology without Metaphysics K e v i n W. H e c t o r Reconsidering John Calvin Randall C. Zachman God’s Presence Frances Young An Incarnation Model of the Eucharist James M. Arcadi

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david fergusson University of Edinburgh

h e Providence of God A Polyphonic Approach

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www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/ 9781108475006 DOI: 10.1017/ 9781108683050 © Cambridge University Press 2018 h is publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2018 Printed in the United States of America by Sheridan Books, Inc. A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library . Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data Names: Fergusson, David, author. Title: h e Providence of God : A Polyphonic Approach / David Fergusson, University of Edinburgh. Description: New York: Cambridge University Press, 2018. | Series: Current issues in theology | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identii ers: LCCN 2018015094 | ISBN 9781108475006 (hardback) Subjects: LCSH: Providence and government of God – – History of doctrines. Classii cation: LCC BT 135. F 38 2018 | DDC 231/.509–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018015094 ISBN 978-1- 108- 47500- 6 Hardback ISBN 978- 1- 108- 46657- 8 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URL s for external or third- party internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

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To Margot

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Contents

Acknowledgements page xi

I n t r o d u c t i o n 1 1 Sources of Providentialism 13 2 h e Latin Default Setting 59 3 Dispersals of Providence in Modernity 110 4 Providence in Nature 167 5 Twentieth- Century Reactions 241 6 Providence Reconstructed 297

B i b l i o g r a p h y 343 Names Index 371 Subject Index 374

ix

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Acknowledgements

h is study of providence has been some years in gestation, and I am glad to record my gratitude to many people and institutions for their input. h e project began as the Wari eld Lectures (2009) at Princeton h eological Seminary, and reappeared in modii ed form in the Birks Lectures (2013) at McGill University and the Ferguson Lecture (2014) at the . Its completion was made possible by a period of research leave funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council which I spent happily as a visiting fellow at Princeton h eological Seminary in 2016–17. I am indebted to many friends and colleagues for invitations, hos- pitality and conversations, particularly in Princeton, Montreal and Manchester. h e list is long, and without their input this work would be greatly impoverished and more deeply l awed than it is. In no particular order, I am glad to express my appreciation to Jay Brown, , Alex Chow, Will Storrar, Jolyon Mitchell, Makoto Fukimura, Simon Burton, Naomi Appleton, Mona Siddiqui, Craig Barnes, Cynthia Rigby, Grant Macaskill, Bob MacLennan, Tom Oord, Andreas Losch, Mark Elliott, Fred Simmons, Doug Ottati, Gerald McKenny, John Bowlin, Robin Lovin, Joshua Mauldin, Jessie van Couenhoven, Shane Berg, Jane Dawson, Ryan Mullins, Mark Harris, William Johnstone, Lydia Schumacher, Alastair McIntosh, David Searle, George Hunsinger, Kate Timoney, Eric Gregory, Gordon Graham, Bruce McCormack, Kathryn Tanner, Gordon Mikoski, Naoki Yajima, Paul Munday, Malan Nel, Robert Adams, Dan Migliore, Ed Turner, Michael Solomon, Ellen Aitken, Douglas Farrow, Susan Hardman Moore, Peter Scott, David Law, Hugh Goddard and George Brooke. My thanks also to Cory Brock

xi

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Acknowledgements

for his support in compiling the bibliography and indexes and Makoto Fujimura for generously permitting use of his painting ‘Luke – Prodigal God’ on the cover design – I was privileged to visit his studio outside Princeton. Last, but not least, I am indebted to two anonymous referees commissioned by Cambridge University Press, whose constructive and critical remarks of ered further encouragement. In some of what follows, I have drawn upon a succession of earlier publications on the theology of providence. Creation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014). ‘Providence’ in Paul Dafydd Jones and Paul T. Nimmo (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Karl Barth (Oxford: Oxford University Press, in press). ‘Providence and its secular displacements’ in George Pattison, Graham Ward and Nick Adams (eds.), Oxford Handbook of h eology and Modern European h ought (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), pp. 655– 74. ‘Natural theology at er Darwin’ in Andrew Robinson (ed.), Darwinism and Natural h eology: Evolving Perspectives (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012), pp. 78– 95. ‘ h e reformed doctrine of providence: from Calvin to Barth’ in h eo Boer, Heleen Maat, Alco Meesters and Jan Muis (eds.), Van God gesproken: over religieuze taal en relationele theologie (Zoetermeer: Uitgeverij Boekencentrum, 2011), pp. 233– 45. ‘ h eology of providence’, h eology Today, 67 (2010), 261– 78. ‘Providence at er Darwin’ in Michael Northcott and R. J. Berry (eds.), h eology At er Darwin (Milton Keynes: Paternoster: 2009), pp. 73–88. ‘Epilogue’ in Francesca Murphy and Philip Ziegler (eds.), h e Providence of God (London: T&T Clark, 2009), pp. 326–33. ‘Divine providence and action’ in Michael Welker and Miroslav Volf (eds.), God’s Life in Trinity (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2006), pp. 153–65. h e book is dedicated to Margot, who has accompanied me along the way with her generous and unfailing support. xii

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