About Providence, Divine Action and the Church


In this blog, Terry J. Wright posts thoughts and shares research on the Christian doctrine of providence. This doctrine testifies to God’s provision for all things through creation’s high priest, the man Christ Jesus. However, the precise meaning and manner of this provision is a perpetually open question, and this blog is a forum for discussion of the many issues relating to providence and the place of the Church within God’s action.

Saturday 6 August 2011

Molinism for Beginners

Thomas P. Flint, ‘Divine Providence’, in Thomas P. Flint and Michael Rea (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Theology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), pp. 262–285

Thomas Flint’s essay is a very good introduction to the doctrine of providence from a Christian–philosophical perspective. He analyzes the relation between a pancausal take on God’s sovereign and libertarian accounts of human freedom, and examines the strengths and weaknesses of Thomism, Open Theism and Molinism on the matter. As someone holding a Molinist position, Flint devotes more space to developing his ideas in this area; but this isn’t to say that his discussions of Thomism and Open Theism are too brief. In short, this essay is an engaging summary of these three positions, and definitely worth reading if you need a concise account of Molinism.

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