Concept
Divine providence
Overview
In theology, divine providence, or simply providence, is God's intervention in the universe. The term Divine Providence (usually capitalized) is also used as a title of God. A distinction is usually made between "general providence", which refers to God's continuous upholding of the existence and natural order of the universe, and "special providence", which refers to God's extraordinary intervention in the life of people. Miracles and even retribution generally fall in the latter category.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
In the original texts
Passages from public-domain books where Divine providence is discussed.
_I answer that,_ As is clear from what has been stated above (Q. 22, A. 3; Q. 103, A. 6), Divine Providence produces effects through mediate causes. We can therefore consider the ordering of the effects in two ways. Firstly, as being in God Himself: and thus the ordering of the effects is called Providence. But if we consider this ordering as being in the mediate causes ordered by God to the production of certain…
Aquinas Thomas, Summa Theologica, Part I
states what it is; names the idea; author linked in the graph; opens on it
The theory however which regards the world as determined through necessity and the belief in a divine providence are by no means mutually excluding points of view. The intellectual principle underlying the idea of divine providence will hereafter be shown to be the notion.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, The Logic of Hegel
states what it is; names the idea; opens on it
Consider how the action of Divine Providence is described in reference to every incident in the lives of the patriarchs, to their occupations, and even to their passions, and how God promised to direct His attention to them. Thus God said to Abraham, “I am thy shield” (Gen. xv. 1); to Isaac, “I will be with thee, and I will bless thee” (ibid. xxvi. 3); to Jacob, “I am with thee, and will keep thee” (ibid. xxviii.
Moses Maimonides, The guide for the perplexed
states what it is; opens on it; names the idea
15. _Of the ministry of the holy angels, by which they fulfil the providence of God._ And so it has pleased Divine Providence, as I have said, and as we read in the Acts of the Apostles,[404] that the law enjoining the worship of one God should be given by the disposition of angels. But among them the person of God Himself visibly appeared, not, indeed, in His proper substance, which ever remains invisible to mortal…
of Hippo Augustine, The City of God, Volume I
author linked in the graph; opens on it; names the idea
And if you affirm, that, while a divine providence is allowed, and a supreme distributive justice in the universe, I ought to expect some more particular reward of the good, and punishment of the bad, beyond the ordinary course of events; I here find the same fallacy, which I have before endeavoured to detect. You persist in imagining, that, if we grant that divine existence, for which you so earnestly contend, you…
David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
states what it is; opens on it; names the idea
Philosophers who discussed Divine providence
- Thomas Carlyle
- Giambattista Vico
- Simone Weil
- Abraham ibn Daud
- Pietro Pomponazzi
- Thomas Hobbes
- Averroes
- Hugo Grotius
- Karl Löwith
- Bernard of Chartres
- Joseph B. Soloveitchik
Related ideas
- The Guide for the Perplexed
- Greek language
- Government
- Stanford University Press
- Arminianism
- Atheism
- Creatio ex nihilo
- Eastern Orthodoxy
- Maimonides
- Augustine of Hippo
- Encyclopedia.com
- Thomas Aquinas
- Natural law
- Emanuel Swedenborg
- Orthodox Judaism
- Omniscience
- Lutheranism
- Pantheism
- Predestination
- Puritans
- Theodicy
- Summa Theologica
- Theology
- Theological determinism
Place in the tradition
Part of Deism.