Free Four Views On Divine Providence (Counterpoints: Bible And Theology) Ebooks Online
Questions about divine providence have preoccupied Christians for generations: Are people elected to salvation? For whom did Jesus die? This book introduces readers to four prevailing views on divine providence, with particular attention to the question of who Jesus died to save (the extent of the atonement) and if or how God determines who will be saved (predestination).But this book does not merely answer readers’ questions. Four Views on Divine Providence helps readers think theologically about all the issues involved in exploring this doctrine. The point-counterpoint format reveals the assumptions and considerations that drive equally learned and sincere theologians to sharp disagreement. It unearths the genuinely decisive issues beneath an often superficial debate. Volume contributors are Paul Helseth (God causes every creaturely event that occurs); William Lane Craig (through his “middle knowledge,” God controls the course of worldly affairs without predetermining any creatures’ free decisions); Ron Highfield (God controls creatures by liberating their decision-making); and Gregory Boyd (human decisions can be free only if God neither determines nor knows what they will be). Introductory and closing essays by Dennis Jowers give relevant background and guide readers toward their own informed beliefs about divine providence.
File Size: 3894 KB
Print Length: 272 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Up to 5 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits
Publisher: Zondervan (April 19, 2011)
Publication Date: April 19, 2011
Sold by: HarperCollins Publishing
Language: English
ASIN: B003U4UXXW
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray: Not Enabled
Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
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Four Views on Divine Providence is the latest in the Counter Point Series edited by Stanley N. Gundry. The book is structured in such as way that allows for a variety of authors to characterize their particular vision of the topic at hand. This volume focuses attention on the issue of God's providence and seeks to provide answers to these questions:Does God ever ordain evil acts?Does God always get what he wants?How can anyone reconcile human beings' moral responsibility with God's sovereignty over their acts?Hoe does God influence the affairs of this world at all?Four theologians from different church traditions were invited to present their findings based on their reading of scripture and christian tradition.Paul Kjoss Helseth represents the Reformed tradition and argues that all events owe both their occurrence and mode of that occurrence to God, who causes every creaturely act in such a way as to determine completely its nature and outcome.William Lane Craig, arguing on behalf of contemporary Molinists, maintains that God knows what creatures will do by virtue of his middle knowledge and that he controls the course of worldly affairs by means of this awareness without predetermining any of his creatures' free decisions.Ronald Highfield, writing from the Restorationist tradition, articulates what he considers to be a biblical perspective on the subject, which differs in content and emphases from the others.Finally, Gregory Boyd advocates for open theism, where humans decisions, in most circumstances, can be free only if God neither determines nor even knows what they will be until they are actualized.
For centuries theologians and philosophers have studied, formulated, and debated how God can be completely sovereign over the totality of events and creatures of his creation, yet human beings maintain a degree of freedom required for them to be morally responsible for their actions. Is God's sovereignty defined as a meticulous causal determination of all things in creation, or does God's sovereignty rule over a creation where humans have a degree of limited and derived freedom where they are the genuine cause of their own actions? If God's control is meticulous, what is the logical conclusion to the problem of evil? Are human beings really responsible for actions they did not ultimately cause? These are the questions people have wrestled with and a new book published by Zondervan brings together four Christian thinkers with four views of how God's providence actually works in the world-FOUR VIEWS ON DIVINE PROVIDENCE.The book features Paul Kjoss Helseth with the view "God causes all things," William Lane Craig with the view "God directs all things," Ron Highland with the view "God controls by liberating," and Gregory A. Boyd with the view "God limits his control."Helseth's view is clearly Calvinist as he describes God as "omnicausal," predetermining everything in his creation exactly as he wants it. The problem with this view is that it logically leads to God as the author of evil and human beings are held responsible for something God planned.Craig presents the Molinist position, which states that God exercises his meticulous sovereignty primarily his omniscience, specifically God plans the world factoring in the actions of free creatures utilizing what Molinists call "middle knowledge.
Four Views on Divine Providence (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Four Views on Moving beyond the Bible to Theology (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Four Views on Christianity and Philosophy (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Four Views on Hell: Second Edition (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Four Views on the Spectrum of Evangelicalism (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Four Views on the Role of Works at the Final Judgment (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Four Views on the Historical Adam (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Four Views on Hell (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Four Views on Eternal Security (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Four Views on the Apostle Paul (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Genesis: History, Fiction, or Neither?: Three Views on the Bible's Earliest Chapters (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Five Views on the Church and Politics (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Show Them No Mercy: 4 Views on God and Canaanite Genocide (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Five Views on Law and Gospel (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Three Views on Creation and Evolution (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Five Views on Biblical Inerrancy (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Two Views on Women in Ministry (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Five Views on Apologetics (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology)
