The Shape of God's Providence: Some Reflections in Dialogue with Barth and Thomas

Abstract

The Christian doctrine of providence involves God, but in what way? In this article, I engage in a broad comparative and reflective exercise on the theological function of providence, drawing primarily upon the insights of Karl Barth and Thomas Aquinas and, to a lesser extent, those of John Webster. I show their broad agreement with respect to the nature of divine causality as well as the metaphysics of creatureliness, advancing a truly theocentric account of this key Christian doctrine.