Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T01:22:07.424Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Problem of Divine Action in the World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 December 2023

Joel Archer
Affiliation:
Duke University

Summary

The world's major monotheistic religions share the view that God acts in the world. This Element discusses the nature of divine action, with a specific focus on miracles or 'special' divine acts. Miracles are sometimes considered problematic. Some argue that they are theologically untenable or that they violate the laws of nature. Others claim that even if miracles occur, it is never rational to believe in them based on testimony. Still others maintain that miracles are not within the scope of historical investigation. After addressing these objections, the author examines the function of miracles as 'signs' in the New Testament.
Get access
Type
Element
Information
Online ISBN: 9781009270328
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 01 February 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allison, , Dale, C. Jr. (1998). Jesus of Nazareth: Millenarian Prophet. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.Google Scholar
Allison, , Dale, C. Jr. (2021). The Resurrection of Jesus: Apologetics, Polemics, History. London: Bloomsbury.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alston, William P. (1986). Does God Have Beliefs? Religious Studies, 22(3/4), 287306.Google Scholar
Aquinas, Thomas (1956). On the Truth of the Catholic Faith: Summa Contra Gentiles Book Three: Providence Part 2. Bourke, Vernon J., trans. Garden City, NJ: Images Books: Doubleday & Company, Inc.Google Scholar
Archer, Joel (2015). Against Miracles As Law-Violations: A Neo-Aristotelian Approach. European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 7(4), 8398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Armstrong, David M. (1997). A World of States of Affairs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Armstrong, David M. (1983). What Is a Law of Nature? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Audi, Paul (2011). Primitive Causal Relations and the Pairing Problem. Ratio, 24(1), 116.Google Scholar
Augustine, (2012). The Confessions, Part I. 2nd ed., Rotelle, John. E., ed., Boulding, Maria, trans. Hyde Park, NY: New City Press.Google Scholar
Aune, David E. (2010). Miracles and Miracle Workers. In Collins, John J. and Harlow, Daniel C., eds., The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 956–8.Google Scholar
Bailey, Andrew M., Rasmussen, Joshua, and Van Horn, Luke (2011). No Pairing Problem. Philosophical Studies, 154(3), 349–60.Google Scholar
Basinger, David (2018). Miracles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bauckham, Richard (2008). Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Studies on the New Testament’s Christology of Divine Identity. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.Google Scholar
Bergmann, Michael (2001). Skeptical Theism and Rowe’s New Evidential Argument from Evil. Noûs, 35(2), 278–96.Google Scholar
Bird, Alexander (2010). Nature’s Metaphysics: Laws and Properties. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Blackburn, Barry (2011). The Miracles of Jesus. In Twelftree, Graham. H., ed., The Cambridge Companion to Miracles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 113–30.Google Scholar
Buckareff, Andrei (2016). Theological Realism, Divine Action, and Divine Location. In Buckareff, Andrei and Nagasawa, Yujin, eds., Alternative Concepts of God: Essays on the Metaphysics of the Divine. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 213–32.Google Scholar
Bultmann, Rudolf (1989). The New Testament and Mythology and Other Basic Writings. Ogden, Shubert M., trans. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press.Google Scholar
Burridge, Richard A. (2018). What Are the Gospels? A Comparison with Graeco-Roman Biography. anniversary, Twenty-fifth ed. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press.Google Scholar
Clayton, Philip (2008). Adventures in the Spirit: God, World, Divine Action. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press.Google Scholar
Clines, David J. A. (2015). Job 38–42, Volume 18B. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.Google Scholar
Collins, Adela Y. (2004). The Charge of Blasphemy in Mark 14.64. Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 26(4), 379401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, William L. (1989). Assessing the New Testament Evidence for the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus. New York: Edwin Mellen Press.Google Scholar
Craig, William L. (2009). “Noli Me Tangere”: Why John Meier Won’t Touch the Risen Lord. Heythrop Journal, 50(1), 91–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, William L., and Sinclair, James D. (2009). The Kalam Cosmological Argument. In William Craig, L. and James, P. Moreland, eds., The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 101201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crossan, John D. (1995). Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography. San Francisco: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Earman, John (2000). Hume’s Abject Failure: The Argument against Miracles. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Edwards, Denis (2010). How God Acts: Creation, Redemption, and Special Divine Action. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.Google Scholar
Ehrman, Bart D. (2019). The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, Brian (2002). The Philosophy of Nature: A Guide to the New Essentialism. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, George (2000). Ordinary and Extraordinary Divine Action. In Russell, Robert J., Murphy, Nancey, and Peacocke, Arthur, eds., Chaos and Complexity: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action. Vatican City: Vatican Observatory Publications.Google Scholar
Ellis, George (1999). The Theology of the Anthropic Principle. In Russell, Robert J., Murphy, Nancey, and Isham, Cristopher. J., eds., Quantum Cosmology and the Laws of Nature. Vatican City: Vatican Observatory Publications.Google Scholar
Fales, Evan (2010). Divine Intervention: Metaphysical and Epistemological Puzzles. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Friedeman, Caleb T. (2020). Jesus’ Davidic Lineage and the Case for Jewish Adoption. New Testament Studies, 66(2), 249–67.Google Scholar
Frost, Gloria (2014). Peter Olivi’s Rejection of God’s Concurrence with Created Causes. British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 22(4), 655–79.Google Scholar
Ganssle, Gregory (2021). Divine Causation and the Pairing Problem. In Ganssle, Gregory, ed., Philosophical Essays on Divine Causation. New York: Routledge, 268–83.Google Scholar
Göcke, Benedikt P. (2015). The Many Problems of Special Divine Action. European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 7(4), 2336.Google Scholar
Hacking, Ian (1983). Representing and Intervening: Introductory Topics in the Philosophy of Natural Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hamilton, Victor P. (1990). The Book of Genesis Chapters 1–17. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hasker, William (1999). The Emergent Self. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Hughes, Christopher, and Adams, Robert M. (1992). Miracles, Laws of Nature and Causation. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volumes, 66, 179224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hume, David (2007). An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding. Millican, Peter, trans. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ivanova, Milena, and French, Steven, eds. (2022). The Aesthetics of Science. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Jaffe, Robert L., and Taylor, Washington (2018). The Physics of Energy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Luke T. (2018). Miracles: God’s Presence and Power in Creation. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.Google Scholar
Keener, Craig S. (2011). Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts. 2 vols. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.Google Scholar
Keener, Craig S. (2019). Christobiography: Memory, History, and the Reliability of the Gospels. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.Google Scholar
Kim, Jaegwon (2007). Physicalism, or Something Near Enough. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Kittle, Simon (2022). God Is (Probably) a Cause among Causes: Why the Primary/Secondary Cause Distinction Doesn’t Help in Developing Non-interventionist Accounts of Special Divine Action. Theology and Science, 20(2), 247–62.Google Scholar
Larmer, Robert A. (2013). The Legitimacy of Miracle. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Larmer, Robert A. (2014). Divine Intervention and the Conservation of Energy: A Reply to Evan Fales. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 75(1), 2738.Google Scholar
Larmer, Robert A. (2021). Defending Special Divine Acts. In Ganssle, Gregory, ed., Philosophical Essays on Divine Causation. New York: Routledge, 174–95.Google Scholar
Lewis, David (1973). Counterfactuals. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, David (1986). Philosophical Papers: Volume II. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, David (1997). Finkish Dispositions. Philosophical Quarterly, 47(187), 143–58.Google Scholar
Licona, Michael R. (2010). The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach. Nottingham: IVP Academic.Google Scholar
Lindars, Barnabas (1986). Jesus Risen: Bodily Resurrection But No Empty Tomb. Theology, 89(728), 90–6.Google Scholar
Lord, Walter (2017). The Miracle of Dunkirk: The True Story of Operation Dynamo. New York: Open Road Media.Google Scholar
Lowe, E. J. (2008). Personal Agency: The Metaphysics of Mind and Action. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luck, Morgan (2016). Defining Miracles: Direct vs. Indirect Causation. Philosophy Compass, 11(5), 267–76.Google Scholar
Mackie, J. L. (1983). The Miracle of Theism: Arguments for and against the Existence of God. Oxford: New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McGrew, Timothy (2014). Miracles. In Edward, N. Zalta, ed., Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. [online]. http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2014/entries/miracles [Accessed April 28, 2015].Google Scholar
Meier, John P. (1991). A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Volume I: The Roots of the Problem and the Person. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Meier, John P. (1994). A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Volume II: Mentor, Message, and Miracles. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Menuge, Angus J. L., Loose, Jonathan J., and James P., Moreland, eds. (2018). The Blackwell Companion to Substance Dualism. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Montero, Barbara (2003). Varieties of Causal Closure. In Walter, Sven and Heckmann, Heinz-Dieter, eds., Physicalism and Mental Causation. Exeter: Imprint Academic, 173–87.Google Scholar
Morgan, Thomas (1741). Physico-theology: Or, A Philosophico-Moral Disquisition concerning Human Nature, Free Agency, Moral Government, and Divine Providence. London: Printed for the author.Google Scholar
Mumford, Stephen (2001). Miracles: Metaphysics and Modality. Religious Studies, 37(2), 191202.Google Scholar
Mumford, Stephen (2004). Laws in Nature. Oxford: Routledge.Google Scholar
Murphy, Nancy (2000). Ordinary and Extraordinary Divine Action. In Russell, Robert. J., Murphy, Nancey, and Peacocke, Arthur, eds., Chaos and Complexity: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action. Vatican City: Vatican Observatory Publications, 325–57.Google Scholar
Novakovic, Lidija (2019). Messiah, the Healer of the Sick: A Study of Jesus As the Son of David in the Gospel of Matthew. Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck.Google Scholar
Oord, Thomas J. (2010). The Nature of Love: A Theology. St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press.Google Scholar
Oord, Thomas J. (2015). The Uncontrolling Love of God: An Open and Relational Account of Providence. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic.Google Scholar
Overall, Christine (2014). Reply to “Overall and Larmer on Miracles As Evidence for the Existence of God.Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review / Revue canadienne de philosophie, 53(4), 601–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Papineau, David (2007). The Rise of Physicalism. In Gillett, Carl and Loewer, Barry, eds., Physicalism and Its Discontents. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 336.Google Scholar
Peterson, Michael L. (2022). Monotheism, Suffering, and Evil. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, Michael L., Hasker, William, Reichenbach, Bruce, and Basinger, David (2013). Reason & Religious Belief: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. 5th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pew Research Center (2006). Spirit and Power: A 10-Country Survey of Pentecostals [online]. www.pewresearch.org/religion/2006/10/05/spirit-and-power [Accessed February 1, 2023).Google Scholar
Philo (1993). The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged, New Updated Edition. Yonge, C. D., trans. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.Google Scholar
Plantinga, Alvin (1989). God, Freedom, and Evil. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.Google Scholar
Plantinga, Alvin (2000). Warranted Christian Belief. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Plantinga, Alvin (2008). What Is “Intervention”? Theology and Science, 6(4), 369401.Google Scholar
Plantinga, Alvin (2011). Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Popper, Karl R. (1992). The Logic of Scientific Discovery. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Quinn, Philip (1988). Divine Conservation, Secondary Causes, and Occasionalism. In Morris, Thomas V., ed., Divine and Human Action. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 5073.Google Scholar
Ramsey, Frank P. (1990). Universals of Law and of Fact (1928). In Mellor, D. H., ed., F. P. Ramsey: Philosophical Papers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 140–4.Google Scholar
Rota, Gian-Carlo (1997). The Phenomenology of Mathematical Beauty. Synthese, 111(2), 171–82.Google Scholar
Russell, Robert J. (2008). Cosmology: From Alpha to Omega. The Creative Mutual Interaction of Theology and Science. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.Google Scholar
Sanders, Ed P. (1993). The Historical Figure of Jesus. New York: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Seeskin, Kenneth (2011). Miracles in Jewish Philosophy. In Twelftree, Graham H., ed., The Cambridge Companion to Miracles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 254–70.Google Scholar
Silva, Ignacio A. (2015). A Cause among Causes? God Acting in the Natural World. European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 7(4), 99114.Google Scholar
Silva, Ignacio A. (2022). Providence and Science in a World of Contingency: Thomas Aquinas’ Metaphysics of Divine Action. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Silva, Moises, ed. (2014). New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis Set. Revised ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic.Google Scholar
Stoeger, William R. (2009). Describing God’s Action in the World in Light of Scientific Knowledge of Reality. In Shults, Leron F., Murphy, Nancey C., and Russell, Robert J., eds., Philosophy, Science and Divine Action. Leiden: Brill, 111–39.Google Scholar
Stump, Eleonore (1995). Non-Cartesian Substance Dualism and Materialism without Reductionism. Faith and Philosophy, 12(4), 505–31.Google Scholar
Stump, Eleonore (2003). Aquinas. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Stump, Eleonore (2012). Wandering in Darkness: Narrative and the Problem of Suffering. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Suárez, Francisco (2002). On Creation, Conservation, and Concurrence: Metaphysical Disputations 20–22. Freddoso, Alfred J., trans. South Bend, IN: St. Augustine’s Press.Google Scholar
Swinburne, Richard (1970). The Concept of Miracle. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Swinburne, Richard (2003). The Resurrection of God Incarnate. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Talim, Meena (2002). Buddha and Miracles. Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute, 62/63, 249–63.Google Scholar
Thomas, David (2011). Miracles in Islam. In Twelftree, Graham H., ed., The Cambridge Companion to Miracles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 199215.Google Scholar
Tillich, Paul (1953). Systematic Theology. London: Nisbet.Google Scholar
Tooley, Michael (1987). Causation: A Realist Approach. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Tooley, Michael (1997). Time, Tense, and Causation. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Twelftree, Graham H. (2011). The Message of Jesus I: Miracles, Continuing Controversies. In Holmén, Thomas and Porter, Stanley E., eds., Handbook for the Study of the Historical Jesus. Leiden: Brill, 2517–48.Google Scholar
Van Inwagen, Peter (2008). The Problem of Evil. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Laan, Vander, David, (2022). Creation and Conservation. In Zalta, Edward N., ed., Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford, CA: Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/creation-conservation.Google Scholar
Wachter, Von, Daniel, (2015). Miracles Are Not Violations of the Laws of Nature Because the Laws Do Not Entail Regularities. European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 7(4), 3760.Google Scholar
Webb, Robert L. (2011). “The Rules of the Game: History and Historical Method in the Context of Faith. The Via Media of Methodological Naturalism.” Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus, 9 (1), 5984.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, N. T. (1997). Jesus and the Victory of God. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.Google Scholar
Wright, N. T. (2003). The Resurrection of the Son of God. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.Google Scholar

Save element to Kindle

To save this element to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

The Problem of Divine Action in the World
  • Joel Archer, Duke University
  • Online ISBN: 9781009270328
Available formats
×

Save element to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

The Problem of Divine Action in the World
  • Joel Archer, Duke University
  • Online ISBN: 9781009270328
Available formats
×

Save element to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

The Problem of Divine Action in the World
  • Joel Archer, Duke University
  • Online ISBN: 9781009270328
Available formats
×