Providence in God and Man. A Proposal for the Current Debate on God’s Providence and Action

Abstract

This article examines the theological debate about God’s action in recent decades, focusing in particular on the conception of providence presupposed in the so-called divine action debate. The aim of the article is to draw closer attention to the operative concept of providence inherent in the theological debate and to reveal it as an essential premise in need of justification. In contrast to the prevailing model of providence, which will be characterized as action-based, the article presents a virtue-based approach that consistently interprets God’s providence teleologically. It is argued that the action-based concept of providence is merely one among several options; the virtue-based approach presents an alternative that is not only of historic relevance, but is also interesting from a systematic point of view.