Divine Interjection: How God Puts Morphemes into Motion in the Great Theater of the World

Probably no greater obstacle complicates the dialogue between theology and science than the notion of divine intervention, commonly understood to involve divine interference in the laws of nature. Many scientists and some theologians complain that divine intervention complicates and, at the limit, subverts the project of explanation by causation. Accordingly, modern theologians are often reluctant to ascribe any effective causation to God. This lecture attends to biblical depictions of God communicating verbally, suggests divine interjection as an alternative model for understanding special divine action, and explores the strengths, weaknesses, and variations of this inform-active model (Deus dixit) over alternative models that privilege physical causation (Deus ex machina).

Biography

Kevin Vanhoozer (PhD Cambridge University) is Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is the author or editor of over twenty books, including The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology (Westminster John Knox, 2005) and Remythologizing Theology: Divine Action, Passion, and Authorship (Cambridge University Press, 2010).