Francis Aran Murphy and Philip G. Ziegler, (eds.)

The Providence of God (T. & T. Clark, London and New York), 2009

xi., 338pp., paperback,  ISBN 978 0 567 03341 3, £24.99. hardback, ISBN 978 0 567 03340 6

Providence is and has always been both an influential and a controversial concept in Christian theology.  This collection of essays is by some 17 contributors drawn from eminent scholars, especially theologians, in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States.  An in-depth analysis of providence draws on a variety of sources, historical, philosophical, theological, systematic and practical.

This is an innovative study of a concept that is being widely debated at the moment.  The approach of the contributors varies as much as their sources and the responses are likely to be equally diverse.  The extent of scrutiny demanded for the concept is amply demonstrated.The book is provided with a full index of persons cited, ranging from Aquinas to Hegel, Samuel to Darwin.  As the editors comment in their introduction, current interest in providence exists among Barthians to leading to protagonists of natural theology, from Thomists to correlationists, from Cavalier von Balthasarians to Round Head Presbyterian ethicists, and even across secular and political divisions. There is no doubt that this is an important, if not a classical, publication and for good measure it is at a modest price by modern standards.

G.R. Batho