Divine Action

In this paper we explicate the notion of a miracle and highlight a suitable ontological framework for it. Our proposal draws on insights from Aquinas’s discussion of miracles and from the modern ontology of powers. We argue that each substance possesses a characteristic set of natural powers and dispositions which are operative or become manifest in the right circumstances. In a miracle divine intervention activates the fundamental disposition inherent in each creature to be responsive to God’s call. Thus, a miracle brings something about which a substance’s set of natural powers and dispositions could not bring about by itself.

1. Le caractère problématique de l’action de Dieu.
2. L’analogie de l’action à l’épreuve.
3. L’action salvifique de Dieu dans les Confessions d’Augustin.
4. La Providence du salut à l’égard de chacun, selon Thomas d’Aquin.
5. Incarnation et Providence particulière, selon John Henry Newman.
6. L’aporie de la démesure des maux.
7. Trois regards bibliques sur la Providence en ses modulations pascales.
8. La Providence salvifique et ses médiations.

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The grinding and wearisome Spirit of War, a perversion of the oft-lamented but inescapable Struggle for Existence, is suddenly unmasked as the pathological reflection of the Soul of the World and its Infinite Life. Concrete and wide-ranging evidence in modern physics and neuroscience shows how it embroils the Life of Man, leading to ever-greater moral malignancy and a Final Crisis.

Compare on this page independent discussions of the immanent Final Crisis and evidence for it:

https://www.academia.edu/44692464/The_Antichrist

https://www.academia.edu/44275896/Thematic_Apperceptions_Surrounding_Max_Picards_Human_Face_1930_With_Ancillary_Illustrations

https://www.academia.edu/41144933/The_Last_Day_Illustrated_Essay_

The discussion within 'The Spirit of War' ranges widely and steps into the Paleolithic, the Holocene, the Neolithic, the Bronze Age, 5th-century Classical Greece, and 17th- and 19th-century Germany, finally emerging into the global forum of modern brain science.

Classical German Idealism is shown in intimate relation to the highest (pythagoric) reaches of Greek philosophy in order to dissect the problem of Trifurcated Man through novel approaches within the philosophies of mind and nature, theology, paleontology, ontology of animal development, the fascinating neurology of Left and Right, and the once alluring goal of an integral psychology.

Lastly, the grimacing Visage of Man--a three-fold cliche of modern life--is exposed as an aesthetic failure contemporaneous with the very birth of Mankind and the onset of continuous psychophysical war within Man himself. (Note: Fair Use and Quotation freely granted to world scholarship.)

Are all God’s activities identical to God?  If not, which are identical to God and which not?  Although it is seldom noticed, the texts of Aquinas (at least on the surface) suggest conflicting answers to these questions, giving rise to a diversity of opinion among interpreters of Aquinas.  In this paper, we draw attention to this conflict and offer what we believe to be the strongest textual and speculative support for and against each of the main answers to these questions.

The rule that opera Trinitatis ad extra indivisa sunt, servato ordine et discrimine personarum is best understood when its two clauses are read together as mutually informative. Read thus, and grasped according to its principles and grammar, the rule articulates two things: the pure benefit of God's activity terminating in time, and the intimate yet unconfused relation between theology and economy.

In order for the faithful (or the not-so-faithful) to speak meaningfully about the Torah from heaven (or about revelation in general), they do well to gain a clear notion of God’s action as presented in the Hebrew Bible. I will supply a discussion of how the Biblical texts describe God’s actions, using tools from rhetoric and linguistic pragmatics, and apply that to some areas of potential science-and-faith conflict.

One of the many ways of coming to know God takes stock of the miracles attributed to Him in a religious tradition. Though this way has met considerable challenges in the modern age, it remains crucially important. Some religions are based on a miracle (as Christianity is based on the Resurrection of Jesus); others rely on miracles for the authentication of their revelations. But any religion claiming that God is known not only by His creation, but by certain definite acts within this creation (i.e., by a particular revelation) is committed to the way of miracles. Hence, whatever is said about miracles, whether positively or negatively, involves a statement about who God is. For the notion of a God Who works miracles is very different from that of a God Who does not.
[in: God: Reason and Reality, edited by Anselm Ramelow, 303-364. Munich: Philosophia Verlag, 2014.]

The legacies of Thomas Aquinas and Karl Barth remain influential for contemporary theologians, who have increasingly put them into conversation on debated questions over analogy and the knowledge of God. However, little explicit dialogue has occurred between their theologies of God. This book offers one of the first extended analyses of this fundamental issue, asking how each theologian seeks to confess in fact and in thought God's qualitative distinctiveness in relation to creation. Wittman first examines how they understand the correspondence and distinction between God's being and external acts within an overarching concern to avoid idolatry. Second, he analyzes the kind of relation God bears to creation that follows from these respective understandings. Despite many common goals, Aquinas and Barth ultimately differ on the subject matter of theological reason with consequences for their ability to uphold God's distinctiveness consistently. These mutually informative issues offer some important lessons for contemporary theology.

This chapter investigates Tom Wright’s portrayal of Paul’s ethics. As the ethical quality of faithfulness is such a central theme in PFG, I raise the question whether Wright also attributes a central role to divine faithfulness in shaping and enabling human faithfulness (i.e. ethical life). In the first part (“What Wright Thinks is Wrong”), I maintain that Wright’s thinking on what is wrong with this world is not wrong, but that the emphasis is in the wrong place. Paul’s personal focus is on the solution, not on the plight. And with regard to the plight, his emphasis is on human enslavement to the external powers of Sin, Flesh, etc., and less so on internal incapacities. In the second part (“From Wrong to [W]Right: How Change is Possible”), I argue that Wright’s model of cognitive change through the “renewal of the mind” presents only one of several aspects of moral transformation in Paul, and that it puts too little trust in the empowering dynamics of Spirit-shaped intimate relationships. In the third part, I largely agree with Wright’s presentation of Paul’s ethical aims and aspirations (focusing on reconciliation, virtues, and fulfilment of the Torah), but I criticize that when it comes to questions of practical morality, Wright’s highflying study fails to touch ground. I finally conclude that faithfulness plays a central role in Wright’s soteriology but only a marginal role in his ethics. I draw attention to the transforming experience of love as the link between divine and human faithfulness that any exposition of Paul’s theology-and-ethics that wants to be faithful to the apostle needs to appreciate.

Neither Aristotle nor Aquinas assumes the reality of the evolution of species. Their systems of thought, however, remain open to the new data, offering an essential contribution to the ongoing debate between scientific, philosophical, and theological aspects of the theory of evolution. After discussing some key issues of substance metaphysics in its encounter with the theory of evolution (hylomorphism, transformism of species, teleology, chance, the principle of proportionate causation), I present a Thomistic response to its major hypotheses. Concerning the philosophy of Aquinas I trace what might be seen as a preliminary description of natural selection in his commentary on Aristotle’s Physics. Turning toward theology, besides addressing the topics that were referred to in the past—such as: Aquinas’ reading of Genesis, his account of creation as dependence in being, secondary and instrumental causality, and univocal/equivocal predication of God—I bring into discussion Thomas’ concept of the perfection of the universe, which has been virtually unused in this context.

Aucune des réalités de notre monde n’échappe au mouvement et aucune n’est faite pour y échapper. D’où cette nécessité leur vient-elle ? Toutes rentrent dans l’histoire en ayant leur histoire. Que nous apprend cette manière d’être façonné en habitant le monde? Elles ne se contentent pas d’être là, inertes, mais elles possèdent une alacrité par laquelle elles deviennent. À quelle destinée répondent-elle alors ? Saint Thomas d’Aquin a longuement médité sur ces questions fondamentales pour la métaphysique et la théologie. Dans un contexte médiéval où le regard sur les choses et leur devenir évolue radicalement par rapport aux conceptions antiques —regard dont nous sommes d’ailleurs les héritiers —, il développe un enseignement original aussi ample que profond. Cet enseignement a commencé d’être redécouvert au vingtième siècle en prêtant attention à l’esse, à l’acte consistant à être. Son second volet demeurait pourtant inexploré, celui de l’opération, celui de l’acte dans lequel l’étant atteint sa perfection et exprime pleinement ce qu’il est. La métaphysique thomasienne n’est pas seulement une métaphysique de l’étant qui est, elle est une métaphysique de l’étant qui est bon en ce qu’il opère. Une autre redécouverte en découle : les créatures ne procèdent pas de Dieu seulement en étant créées, mais aussi en étant gouvernées vers le bien dans leurs opérations. Elles opèrent parce qu’elles sont attirées vers Celui qui est bon par essence, comme vers la fin qui les rend bonnes en les assimilant à Lui. Opérer, c’est procéder de Dieu dans le bien. Ainsi, opération des créatures et gouvernement divin sont intimement liés, et l’attrait de Dieu sur toutes choses est la clé de cette intimité.

Table des Matières
Première partie. « Penser l’ἐνέργεια »
Chapitre I. La division de l’étant selon l’acte
Chapitre II. Activité et mouvement chez aristote

Deuxième partie. La dualité de l’action et de l’opération
Chapitre I. une lecture altérée d’aristote
Chapitre II. L’action ou l’étant comme origine
Chapitre III. L’opération ou l’acte du parfait

Troisième partie. Le chemin de la perfection
Chapitre I. L’opération comme intensification de la bonté
Chapitre II. L’opération comme effet de l’attrait du bien

Quatrième partie. Avoir Dieu pour fin
Chapitre I. Être gouverné vers la fin
Chapitre II. Atteindre la fin

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Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal (Ave Maria University, Naples, Fl.) 2018 Prize.
Nothing in our world is deprived of movement, and nothing is made to elude movement. Why is it so? All things enter history by having their own history. What does it teach us this way of being shaped by inhabiting the world? Beings are not merely there, they do not stay inert, but they possess their own keenness towards their becoming. What destiny then are they answering to? Saint Thomas Aquinas dealt with these fundamental questions for metaphysics and theology in considerable detail. He took part in the new understanding of being and becoming which appeared in mediaeval times (and which we inherited). But he did it in an ample, profound, original way. This teaching has been partially rediscovered in the 20th century, with a focus on the esse, the act which consists in being. But its other main component remained unexplored: as any being is (it possesses esse), any being also operates. Operation is the act through which a being attains its perfection and expresses what it is. Aquinas’ metaphysics is not merely a metaphysics of the being which is, it is a metaphysics of the being which is good in that it operates. This brings into light another aspect of Aquinas’ teaching: creatures do not proceed from God merely in that they are created, they also proceed from God in that they are governed towards the good in their operations. They operate because they are attracted by He who is good in essence and the end which makes them good by assimilating them to his goodness. To operate is to proceed from God according to the good. Therefore, the operation of creatures and the divine government are intimately tied, and the attraction of God upon all things is the key to this intimacy.
Fr. Emmanuel Perrier, o.p., is a French dominican of the Toulouse Province. He is professor of dogmatics at the dominican Studium and the Institut Saint Thomas d’Aquin (Catholic University of Toulouse). He published in the same series a study in trinitarian theology, La Fécondité en Dieu.

“It is well-known that the Thomist doctrine of esse underwent an important rediscovery in the 20th century, in many different ways. However the doctrine of operatio has not received a similar attention until now. Emmanuel Perrier’s book addresses this shortcoming. In this regard, the present publication is a milestone within Thomistic studies. […] In sum, this superb work of Emmanuel Perrier invites us to read again, under the light of the doctrine of operation, the whole theology of Aquinas! The invitation isn’t limited to the divine government, it starts with the study of God one and triune: this book sheds a deeply evocative light on the trinitarian foundation of divine government, referring to the Holy Spirit and the causality of the processions in the Trinity. Under the light of the doctrine of operation, the treatise on beatitude, the study of the human act, and in particular the theological operations and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, deserve a new reading. Lastly, the study of the human operation of Christ could benefit greatly by being placed under this new light cast upon this notion of operation. All this makes clear that this highly specialized book leads us right to the heart of the metaphysics Aquinas formulated and upon which he based his theological teaching. This book should be received with all the attention it deserves because it is a true gift given to theology.”
Fr. Gillles Emery, o.p., from the Foreword of the book.

Table of contents
Part 1. “To think ἐνέργεια through”
c. 1: The division of being according to the act; c. 2: Activity and movement in Aristotle.
Part 2. The duality of action and operation
c. 1: A distorted reading of Aristotle; c. 2: Action, that is, the being as an origin; c. 3: Operation, that is, the act of the perfect.
Part 3. The path to perfection
c. 1: Operation as the intensification of goodness; c. 2: Operation as the effect of the good’s attractiveness.
Part 4. To have God as one’s end
c. 1: To be governed towards the end; c. 2: To attain the end.

Many advocates of theistic evolutionism develop an image of God creating within and through evolutionary processes. Defining their position as “evolutionist creationism,” they conceive God as sharing his divine power to create with his creatures. I claim that
evolutionary transformations can certainly be thought as particular exemplifications of the concurrence of divine and natural causes. However, because they occur within already existing matter, they should not be conceived as an aspect of divine creation but rather as an important part of divine providential governance and guidance of the created universe toward its end.

The domain of applications of quantum mechanics (QM) is enormously successful. However, as diverse ontologies emerge from different interpretations of QM, it is difficult to find a satisfactory interpretation of the theory. This article presents a review of the main questions QM posed to theological discussion.  The question of quantum indeterminism is addressed with the aim to show that there is no unanimous answer to this point.  According to some interpretations of QM indeterminism is real, whereas for others indeterminism is only apparent. Given the plurality of interpretations and ontologies arising from QM, it is reasonable to discuss whether it makes sense to inquire into the theological implications of the quantum world. I suggest that future work could analyze whether this ontological-pluralist view is distinctive of how science objectifies reality, but is not necessarily present in other kinds of knowledge, such as metaphysics or theology.

If miracles occur, then they are the work of spiritual agents. Actions of such agents are not made intelligible by laws of nature, but by narratives. Narratives can vary in consistency and comprehensiveness. With this criterion, various religions and their miracle claims can be compared with regard to the implied narratives.
A slightly different and shorter version of this paper has been published as “Miracles, Metaphysics and Salvation History.” In Habitus fidei – Die Überwindung der eigenen Gottlosigkeit: Festschrift für Richard Schenk OP zum 65. Geburtstag, edited by Jeremiah Alberg and Daniela Köder, 219–280. Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh, 2016.

Presentation for the talk given at "The Origin of Life and Nature Before Sin Conference", Angelicum Thomistic Institute, Rome, 2 April 2022.

This research was supported by the University of Oxford project ‘New Horizons for Scienceand Religion in Central and Eastern Europe’ funded by the John Templeton Foundation.The opinions expressed in the talk are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the view of the John Templeton Foundation

One of the main arguments against interventionist views of special divine action is that God would not violate his own laws.  But if intervention entails the breaking of natural law, what precisely is being broken?  While the nature of the laws of nature has been widely explored by philosophers of science, important distinctions are often ignored in the science and religion literature.  In this paper, I consider the three main approaches to laws:  Humean anti-realism, supervenience on more fundamental aspects of metaphysics, and nomological realism.  The first denies that there is any metaphysical reality behind laws or causation.  The second holds that laws supervene on capacities, dispositions, or counterfactuals.  The third takes laws to be irreducible aspects of reality.  The mechanics of special divine action and worries about intervention vary depending on which view of law one holds.  In the end, I argue that early modern natural philosophers, who first introduced law-language for nature, largely had it right.  Laws are not created entities or powers that act as intermediaries between God and nature; they are best understood as expressions of God’s will for nature.  The outstanding question is whether such a view inevitably lands in occasionalism.

Divine Action and Emergence puts the classical Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition in conversation with current philosophy and theology.

As a middle path between classical theism and pantheism, the panentheistic turn in the twentieth century has been described as a “quiet revolution.” Today, in fact, many theologians hold that the world is “in” God (who, at the same time, is more than the world). Panentheism has been especially influential in the dialogue between theology and the natural sciences. Many have seen panentheism as compatible with emergentism, and thus have brought the two together in developing models of divine action that do not abrogate the regularities of processes of the natural world. In Divine Action and Emergence, Mariusz Tabaczek argues that, as inspiring and intriguing as emergentist panentheism is, it requires deeper examination. He begins by looking at the wonder of emergence (which calls into question the overly reductionist attitude in natural science) and by reflecting philosophically on emergence theory in light of classical and new Aristotelianism. Moving in a theological direction, Tabaczek then offers a critical evaluation of emergentist panentheism and a constructive proposal for how to reinterpret the idea of divine action as inspired by the theory of emergence with reference to the classical Aristotelian-Thomistic understanding of God’s action in the universe.

Through a unique interdisciplinary approach that puts theology and the natural sciences into a dialogue through philosophy, Divine Action and Emergence offers a comprehensive evaluation of panentheism. It then puts forward an original reinterpretation of emergence theory, thus setting forth a constructive proposal for reinterpreting the concept of divine action that is currently espoused by emergence theory. It will appeal to scholars of theology and philosophy, those who work in the area of theology and science, those interested in emergence theory or panentheism, and finally those who are interested in the dialogue between the classical Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition and contemporary philosophy and theology.

The most inclusive problem of the divine action, whose answer could clarify other sub-problems, is the God-nature relationship. Without a precise and accurate account of this issue, no entry point could be found for divine action in nature. This paper is aimed to reconstruct the Neo-Sadraian Islamic Philosophy's reaction to the problem of divine action in nature on the basis of Tabatabaie's viewpoint, one of the Neo-Sadraian Islamic philosophers. According to Tabatabaie, God's acts are not limited to the specific causal joint which scientific and indeterministic approaches imply. Instead, he suggests a more fundamental gap which is revealed by metaphysical analysis of contingent beings. This gap is the ontological indigence of contingent beings. God, as a Perfect and Necessary Being, treats their indigence with His perfection. Thus, nature has a permanent dependency on God. In Tabatabaie's view, as we argue, neither does divine action violates the laws of nature, nor do these laws render God "Hands-off" when it comes to nature.

Relation occupies a position of paramount importance in the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas.  Several central themes of his theology are based on his use of the category of relation, such as his theology of the Trinity (the divine person as subsistent relation), creation (the relation of God to the world), and the Incarnation (the relation of the divine and the human natures in Christ). This study comprises four sections. The first presents the category of relation and its constitutive elements, as part of the doctrine of predicaments; the second examines the distinction between real relations and relations “of reason”; the third deals with the most significant properties of relations, and considers some particular difficulties; finally, the last section shows briefly Aquinas’s usage of the category of relation in his account of the relationship of God and the world.

Augustine’s use of the concept of rationes seminales in his interpretation of Genesis 1 and 2 enabled him to assert that although God created everything instantaneously, in the initial state of the universe all species were present in the potency of the primordial matter, to be actualized at the consecutive stages of the history of its transformations and development. Despite its interpretation as evolutionary in the writings of Mivart, Zahm, and Dorlodot, Augustine’s model did not, in fact, assume a gradual transformation of one species into another – which became the main objection from the point of view of the advocates of Darwin’s theory of evolution. Moreover, the possibility (if not necessity) of direct divine interventions in the unfolding of rationes seminales made Augustine’s notion of creation even more inadequate in its encounter with modern biology and the philosophical reflection it inspires. This article critically analyzes Aquinas’s use of Augustine’s concept of rationes seminales and develops a constructive proposal of the Thomistic metaphysics of evolutionary transformism – based on Aquinas’s embracement of Aristotle’s moderate realism about universals, including species, grounded in hylomorphic metaphysics of substance.

Sugerente, estimulante, fresco, positivo, a veces divertido, y siempre interesante, es este último libro que nos ofrece Mariano Fazio en el nonagésimo aniversario de la fundación del Opus Dei. Sacerdote, historiador y filósofo argentino, afincado en Roma, antiguo rector de la Pontificia Universidad de la Santa Cruz y actual vicario general del Opus Dei, Fazio, un comunicador de ralea, nos presenta la figura de san Josemaría como un gran defensor de la libertad humana, como el último romántico, usando la conocida expresión de Escrivá. La razón que daba el fundador del Opus Dei es tan sencilla como insondable: sin libertad no se puede amar a Dios. La libertad humana, bien ejercida, al cooperar decididamente con la acción del Espíritu Santo, nos ata a Dios, nos abraza al Amor con mayúsculas. La libertad es la puerta que nos abre paso a la comunión con Dios y, a través de Él, a todos los hombres.

This paper presents a philosophical argument for divine providence by Aquinas. I suggest that upon returning to Aristotle’s Physics and Metaphysics to prepare his commentaries on these texts, Aquinas recognized that his stock argument from natural teleology to divine providence (the fifth way and its versions) needed to be filled out. Arguments from natural teleology can prove that God’s
providence extends to what happens for the most part, but they cannot show that God’s providence also includes what happens for the least part. In order to prove the latter, Aquinas claims that one must argue from a higher science, which he then does with all characteristic clarity. This paper presents this argument, discusses what this means for his previous arguments from teleology, and discusses the argument’s relevance to the contemporary discussion about creation and evolution.

“Physical premotions” are a concept associated with Baroque Catholic theological debates concerning grace and freedom. In this paper, I present an argument that the entities identified in this debate, physical premotions, are necessary for any classical theist’s account of divine causality. A “classical theist” is a theist who holds both that God is simple, that is, without inhering properties, and that humans and God are both free in the incompatibilist sense. In fact, not only does the acceptance of physical premotions not entail determinism, physical premotions are the only way for classical theists to preserve the aforementioned two commitments. Nevertheless, the theory of premotions (by itself) cannot help theologians resolve questions of how God causes human free acts without violating their freedom.

In theology there has never been any doubt that God can cause things to happen, but there has been a great deal of controversy about the precise nature of God’s causal activity in nature. The theory of divine concurrentism (both God, as primary cause, and creatures, as secondary causes, are engaged in causal processes), fostering the middle way between the anti-providential notion of natural causation and occasionalism (which attributes all causation to God), was questioned in the era of modern science and philosophy. The restriction of divine action to the moment of the first creation in deism led to the agnostic and atheistic rejection of God as an ‘unnecessary hypothesis.’ Most theological responses to this crisis followed the restriction of causality to efficient causes, showing an implicit tendency to speak about the causation of God and creatures in univocal terms and trying to define the ‘causal joint’ between God and nature. A philosophical analysis of evolutionary biology, emergence, big bang cosmology, chaos theory, and quantum mechanics, however, has recently brought a retrieval of a broader understanding of causation, triggering a renewed interest in divine action. The topic of causality has raised interest among analytical philosophers as well. Those following the metaphysics of dispositions and manifestations acknowledge the neo-Aristotelian flavor of their analyses, which becomes, in turn, an incentive for a revival of the classical version of divine concurrentism.

Będąc w dialogu ze współczesnością, z nauką i z religijnym pluralizmem, chrześcijańska teologia pilnie potrzebuje krytycznej oceny tzw. trynitarnego paradygmatu. „Nowy” paradygmat definicje Boga głównie jako związanego ze stworzeniem i pozostawia na boku interwencjonistyczne i nadprzyrodzone modele boskiego działania. Model postteistyczny Boga pozwala na nowo odkryć wpływ neoplatoński na teologię średniowieczną, zwłaszcza w dziełach św. Tomasza z Akwinu, w mistyce Mistrza Eckharta oraz w myśli Mikołaja z Kuzu, aby uzasadnić panenteistyczne rozumienie relacji między Bogiem a stworzeniem. Jedność bytu Boga z bytem stworzenia, Bóg jako „non-aliud”, rozróżnienie między Bogiem a Bóstwem oraz tożsamość ducha Bożego z ludzką duszą stanowią główne tematy klasycznego teizmu, które mogą być przyjęte w ramach zmiany paradygmatu, jaki dokonał się we współczesnej chrystologii i teologii trynitarnej. Grundaxiom Rahnera znajdzie szczególne miejsce w tej refleksji, ponieważ jego idea dotycząca tożs...

I examine John Polkinghorne's account of how God acts in the world, focusing on how his ideas developed with the consideration of the notion of kenosis, and how this development was not a rejection of his previous ideas, but on the contrary a fulfilling of his own personal philosophical and theological insights. Polkinghorne's thought can be distinguished in three different periods:1) divine action as input of active information (1988-2000/2001);2) Polkinghorne's reception of the notion of kenosis (2000-2004);3) Polkinghorne's "thought experiment" approach to his ideas on divine action (2004- ). Finally, I consider the question of internal coherence of this theological development, focusing on the transition from the first to the second period, which I believe to be the most significant.

Is miraculous divine action compatible with determinism in physical theories? Physics has often been understood to imply that the causal processes of the universe proceed tightly in lockstep, like the mechanisms of a great clock, leaving little or no room for objectively special divine action in the world. In the theology and science discussion, the focus has traditionally been on new arguments from physics that seem to alter this picture, such as quantum physics in Robert J. Russell's NIODA-model. The purpose of this chapter is to explore recent philosophical and theological arguments and the possibility of miracles even without the new physics, and to relate these to Russell's project. In particular, I consider arguments by Alvin Plantinga, William Alston, Steven Horst, Robert Larmer, Taede Smedes and Ignacio Silva. I find that Russell also questions the philosophical assumptions behind the argument against miracles, and this creates common ground between Russell and the recent discussion of miracles in the analytic philosophy of religion.

Der Aufsatz analysiert Karl Poppers und John Eccles gemeinsamen Ansatz der Wechselwirkung von Geist und Materie und vergleicht ihren Gebrauch des Konzeptes der abwärts gerichteten Kausalität mit jüngeren diesbezüglichen Ansätzen, insbesondere denen von Nancey Murphy und George Ellis. Die Argumentation berücksichtigt auch John Polkinghornes Verständnis von göttlichem Handeln, weil es eine interessante Variante von abwärts gerichteter Geist/Materie Interaktion darstellt. Es wird argumentiert, dass abwärts gerichtete Kausalität ein spekulatives Konzept ist, jedoch möglicherweise immer noch die beste Annäherung an ein wissenschaftliches Verständnis von Geist und Materie, die es derzeit gibt. Daher erscheint auch Poppers und Eccles‘ Ansatz interessanter als normalerweise angenommen, und sollte nicht weiter in der Debatte um abwärts gerichtete Kausalität übersehen werden.

Within the philosophy of biology, recently promising steps have been made towards a biologically grounded concept of agency. Agency is described as bio-agency: the intrinsically normative adaptive behaviour of human and non-human organisms, arising from their biological autonomy.
My paper assesses the bio-agency approach by examining criticism recently directed by its proponents against the project of embodied robotics. Defenders of the bio-agency approach have claimed that embodied robots do not, and for fundamental reasons cannot, qualify as artificial agents because they do not fully realise biological autonomy. More particularly, it has been claimed that they fail to be agents because agency essentially requires metabolism.
I shall argue that this criticism, while being valuable in bringing to the fore important differences between bio-agents and existing embodied robots, nevertheless is too strong. It relies on inferences from agency-as-we-know-it to agency-as-it-could-be which are justified neither empirically nor conceptually.

The article provides a biographical and theological portrait of the Romanian Orthodox theologian Dumitru Stăniloae (1903-1993). A particular attention is given to the doctrine of creation and its place within his theological project. Stăniloae’s specific contribution is traced while examining a notion of a divine gift that precedes everything else, his Trinitarian base for the image of God, communication between the visible and invisible worlds, as well as his concept of responsive divine Providence.

Revue thomiste 2018, 1 (118), p. 75-112
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This article has two tightly related objectives. The first is to present the Trinitarian theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg by bringing out what makes its strength and originality. The second is to help one dialogue with Pannenberg and the tradition to which he belongs, and which was born in Germany after the deist shock of the 18th century. In this perspective, the author suggests being attentive to the manner of practicing Trinitarian theology. Nicene theology practices spiritual exercise, the theology of Pannenberg practices the vertigo of the intellect. The vertigo prompted by the latter is that of the infiniteness of the Trinitarian mystery, but it reflects more deeply a nostalgic search for the perfection of the divine act and the way to express it.
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Cet article poursuit deux objectifs étroitement liés. Le premier est de présenter la théologie trinitaire de Wolfhart Pannenberg en faisant ressortir ce qui lui confère sa force et son originalité. Le second est d’aider au dialogue avec Pannenberg et avec la tradition à laquelle il appartient, celle née en Allemagne après le choc déiste du VIIIe siècle. Dans cette perspective, il est proposé de prêter attention à la manière de pratiquer la théologie trinitaire. La théologie nicéenne pratique l’exercice spirituel, la théologie de Pannenberg pratique le vertige de l’intelligence. Le vertige promu par ce dernier est celui de l’infini du mystère trinitaire, mais il reflète plus profondément une recherche nostalgique de la perfection de l’acte en Dieu et des moyens de la signifier.

For quantum mechanics to form the crux of a robust model of divine action, random quantum fluctuations must be amplified into the macroscopic realm.  What has not been recognized in the divine action literature to date is the degree to which differential dynamics, continuum mechanics, and condensed matter physics prevent such fluctuations from infecting meso- and macroscopic systems.  Once all of the relevant physics is considered, models of divine action based on quantum randomness are shown to be far more limited than is generally assumed.  Unless some sort of new physical mechanism is discovered, the amplification problem cannot be solved.

کتاب «تاملی در مفهوم خداوند» به بررسی مفهوم خداوند اختصاص یافته است. در این کتاب چهار مقاله به زبان فارسی برگردانده شده است. مفهوم «عمل الهی» در مطلبی از دیوید بلومنفیلد مورد بررسی قرار گرفته است.
آیا با توجه به مفهوم خداوند، می‌توان انجام دادن عمل و عاملیت را به او نسبت داد؟ در مقاله‌ای از مت مک‌کورمیک به بررسی هم‌امکانی ویژگی‌های خداوند پرداخته شده است.
آیا می‌توان در آنِ واحد همه‌چیزدانی و همه‌کارتوانی را به خداوند نسبت داد؟ آیا این دو ویژگی یا دیگر ویژگی‌ها با هم در یک شخص (در اینجا خداوند) قابل‌جمع‌اند؟ دیوید لوئیس در مقاله‌ای به بررسی مسئله‌ی شر و دلالت‌های آن برای مفهوم خداوند پرداخته ‌است.
و در انتها در مطلبی از دیوید کلارک به بررسی امکان «کلام الهی» پرداخته شده است. آیا با توجه به ویژگی‌هایی که برای خداوند در نظر گرفته می‌شود، می‌توان به شکل معناداری از سخن گفتن خداوند با بشر سخن گفت؟
این کتاب با ترجمه و مقدمه‌ی زهیر باقری نوع‌پ رست در دسترس علاقمندان قرار گرفته است.

This work consists of Persian translations of the following papers and book chapters (by Zoheir Bagheri Noaparast):

Blumenfeld, D. (1978). On the compossibility of the divine attributes. Philosophical Studies, 34(1), 91-103.

MCCORMICK, M. (2003) ‘The paradox of divine agency’, in M. Martin & R. Monnier (eds) The Impossibility of God
(Amherst NY: Prometheus Press), 313-321.

Lewis, D. (2007). Divine evil. In L. Antony (Ed.), Philosophers without gods (pp. 231–242). New York: Oxford University Press

Clarke, D. (2016). IF GOD COULD TALK, WE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND HIM. Think, 15(44), 15-22. doi:10.1017/S1477175616000191

The notion of God's action in the world remains widely discussed, especially as a result of the Vatican Observatory project entitled ‘Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action’ (1988-2003). This paper considers three fundamental objections from the broad areas of contemporary culture, the natural sciences, and Christian theology to the idea of special divine action, and offers responses to each.

Christian theology urgently needs – in dialogue with modernity, science and religious pluralism – a critical assessment of the so-called theistic paradigm. Such a “new” paradigm defines God as essentially related to createdness and lays aside an interventionist and supernaturalistic model of divine agency. A post-theistic model of God may revisit the Neoplatonic influence in Medieval theology, especially in the works of Thomas Aquinas, in Eckhart's mysticism, and Nicholas of Cusa’s thought, to support a panentheistic understanding of the relation between God and creation. The oneness of God's being with created being, God as “non-aliud”, the distinction between God and Godhead, and the identity of God's spirit with the human soul, are some of the major themes from Classical theism that can be assumed within the framework of the paradigm shift that has been occurring in Contemporary Christology and Trinitarian theology. Special attention will be dedicated to Rahner’s Grundaxiom because his idea of the identity of immanent and economic Trinity aims at unfolding the experiential dimension of the tripersonal God while maintaining the ineffability of God’s divinity.  A Post-theistic approach to Christian theology makes possible what may be called a theological Relative Monism.

Rethinking Providence without losing God while we do it: An exercise in discernment in terms of the Credo. Attentive to present-day suggestions on rethinking Providence in light of Open Theism, this article will undertake first an exercise in discernment, then in reconstruction. This critical examination deals with three sensitive adjustments: an unnoticed transfer of sovereignty from God towards the human being, an auto-determination on the part of God to let Himself be determined by his free creatures, a suspension of divine omniscience in favour of supposed human liberty. Such shifts can are measured by their highly important consequences. This reconstruction re-examines the confrontation of images of God, be they pagan or Christian. It then considers the surprising relationships between necessities and liberties according to the Gospel of Saint Luke. This will lead to reformulating the essential elements of faith in Providence according to the three articles of the Credo, in terms of sovereignty, Pascal mystery and synergy.