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Grounding Providence in the Theology of the Creator: The Exemplarity of Thomas Aquinas
Author(s) -
Hoonhout Michael A.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
the heythrop journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.127
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 1468-2265
pISSN - 0018-1196
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2265.00179
Subject(s) - nominalism , divine providence , philosophy , order (exchange) , creatures , epistemology , theology , foundation (evidence) , christian theology , power (physics) , natural (archaeology) , law , economics , physics , archaeology , finance , quantum mechanics , political science , history
Discussion of divine providence was traditionally grounded in the wisdom and benevolence of the Creator, until the impact of nominalism which narrowed the theological focus upon the absolute power and freedom of the divine will. An exemplary approach for discussing providence which predates nominalism and which has surprising contemporary relevance is the one developed by Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae . It is exemplary both for how it discusses providence and for what is says about it. Methodologically, Aquinas explains providence in two contexts, one theological, the other cosmological, in order to avoid misconstruing the reality of one term because of the dynamics pertinent to the other. Substantively, this understanding of providence rests upon the theological foundation of the Creator’s wisdom and benevolence, which in the world find expression as a comprehensive order oriented towards emergent goodness. Through this order God is provident by the genuine and contingent causal actions of creatures, a natural and non‐deterministic means that makes it highly compatible with modern science.