‘Special divine action’ (SDA) is what John Austin might have called
a ‘trouser-term’, in the sense that its function is to exclude possible ways
in which divine action is not special. For SDA, what is excluded is deism
or some similar conception of divine action limited to that of first or
uncaused cause, or cosmic designer, or sustainer. A positive definition
of SDA is more challenging, but within theology, it is common practice
to take account of various distinct modes of SDA, especially grace,
inspiration, miracles, and providence. Such action is usually considered
as particular to time and place, as in the case of the inscription in
Nazareth that reads, “The word became flesh here.” Such action is also
generally considered to take place in response to some state of affairs
in the world and often understood in terms of an intervention in the
ordinary course of nature.
For obvious reasons, the possibility, meaning, and purported
occurrences of SDA are central concerns of theology and religion, and
they are the issues associated with divine action that are usually of
greatest personal, social, and political interest. Since views about divine
action also tend to shape views about human action, the topic also has
implications beyond theology and religion alone. The study of such
matters, however, has often been framed in terms of a fairly narrow set
of concerns, questions and approaches, with the terms of debates since
the eighteenth century often set by David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning
Human Understanding. Given subsequent advances in philosophy
and science, a growing appreciation of the vast amount of neglected
scholarship on SDA, and the hopes and fears raised by a resurgence of
religious beliefs concerning divine intervention, it is timely to re-examine
what the philosophy of religion can contribute.
For these reasons, we have welcomed the generous opportunity
provided by the European Journal for Philosophy of Religion to dedicate
this issue specifically to SDA. The papers presented in this issue are
based on presentations from a conference at the University of Oxford,
13-16 July 2014, organised by the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and
Religion, Faculty of Theology and Religion. This conference was under
the auspices of a major project on special divine action at the University
of Oxford, made possible thanks to a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. and carried out in collaboration with the Department
of Philosophy of the University of Western Michigan, with digital
humanities tools for future research on SDA being developed by the
Texas Center for Applied Technology.
The first two papers of this edition, by Alister McGrath and Benedikt
Göcke, set the scene by examining hesitations about the study of SDA
and the changing situation today. Papers by Daniel von Wachter, Robert
Larmer, Joel Archer, Ignacio Silva, and Andrea Sangiacomo challenge
details of the various frameworks that often shape arguments concerning
SDA. Lenn Goodman examines the notion of God’s governance, drawing
especially from Maimonides. Colin McGinn presents problems raised
by God’s purported interaction with the world, especially as regards
the mind of God, and Andrew Pinsent examines a model for how
divine understanding might be communicated, drawing some practical
implications for catalysing insights in daily life. Aside from their intrinsic
merits, we hope that these papers encourage further research by showing
some of the many new possibilities for the study of special divine action
in the philosophy of religion.
