Reviewing the Terrain

Abstract

In this chapter the author provides a retrospective glance on the material reviewed thus far, and suggests a deeper history of the debates about the nature of divine action among both theologians and philosophers is needed. The author demonstrates the complexity of the debates and the assumptions brought to the table, particularly those assumptions tacit in philosophical queries into the justification of religious belief. He suggests the contours of this particular debate colored the debate on divine action. Following I. M. Crombie, the author argues that theology proper can inform how one thinks about divine actions. Moreover, he argues that theologians and their proposals ought to be considered in the ongoing debate about divine action on their own terms, rather than to be thought secondary to explicitly analytic philosophical arguments and terms for debate.