Purpose and providence
Subtitle: taking soundings in western thought, literature & theology
By: by Vernon White
Publisher: Bloomsbury T&T Clark US
Published: 2015
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 176
ISBN-13: 9780567663429
Subjects: Meaning (Philosophy); Providence and government of God; Christianity
Description: Do our lives have a purpose? Despite the rise of secularism, we are still confronted by a sense of meaning and direction in the events of history and our own lives--something beyond us, not just our own creation. Vernon White tracks this belief in intellectual history and tests its resilience in modern literature, using the novels of Thomas Hardy and Julian Barnes to suggest how it persists even when it seems lost. The discussion then moves to an exploration of this belief in its theological form, through the doctrine of providence and the pressures on it. Drawing especially on Barth and Frei, White suggests ways of re-imagining divine providence to take account of these issues. A constructive proposal is then tested against scripture, experience and praxis, to provide an outline picture of providence which does not rely on empirical progress. (Back cover).
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Something lost and found; title: Mapping meaning and purpose: a brief history of ideas; title: Loss, love, and recovery: a literary story; title: Purpose and providence in theology: roots and developments of a core belief; title: Some theological re-imaginings; title: Credibility in scripture, experience, praxis; title: Providence lost or regained?