The third volume of my tetralogy on divine action represents a significant departure from traditional genres of systematic theology. On the surface, the work looks like a standard treatment of the loci of systematic theology and thus could readily be dismissed as archaic at worst and conventional at best. However, it is placed very deliberately…

It has been a long time since I have so thoroughly enjoyed a theology book. Abraham’s book is written with verve and vitality. The prose simply sparkles. The mix of standard academic terminology with “bog Irish” and homespun Texan is delightful. The book is by turns both witty and worshipful, both convicting and fun. It…

There is something naturally compelling to Abraham’s call for theology’s return to the language of divine personal agency. It is as if theology had languished under a spell, which was preventing us from seeing the obvious: that there is no metaphysical quandary about the claim that God acts. Invoking an open concept of action, he…

In his search of a viable concept of divine action, Billy Abraham almost in passing provides a complete survey of Christian dogmatics. Ranging from the doctrine of God to eschatology, in this third part of his tetralogy all the main topics of classical doctrinal reflection are carefully probed. Given the fact that God’s actions figure…

William Abraham’s book is a pleasure to read, not just for its insight, clarity, and wit, but also for its bold invitation to “reconceive,” and even “reinvent” contemporary theology (p. 22). Describing himself as “a retrievalist and a renewalist” (p. 32), he’s also something of a cheerleader, urging theologians to “keep their nerve” (pp. 62,…

When I requested the first two volumes of William J. Abraham’s Divine Agency and Divine Action tetralogy (Oxford University Press, 2017­–), I must admit I did not expect them to shape my thoughts on divine action and, by extension, providence quite so much as they have. Before reading Abraham’s fine work, I accepted without question…

Why is it that I am the way I am? This is a question we all face eventually. Sometimes it will arise at the outset of life, when a young person considers their gifts, talents, interests, and formation while reflecting on vocation. For others, the question echoes around the empty house during retirement as they…

I am grateful to the scholars who read and responded to a book that did not always make for easy reading. The generous and irenic nature of their comments invites a reply in kind. I especially appreciated what seems to be a general recognition among these readers (possibly representing the totality of its audience) that the…

Luke Timothy Johnson is rightly known as one of the more thoughtful New Testament scholars in our country. He is well known for going his own way on issues and calling them as he sees them with a clarity of expression as he does so. This has certainly been the case in Historical Jesus study…

Merriam-Webster defines a miracle as “an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs.” How can a modern, educated Western adult believe in miracles? Miracles are a hard sell in our modern secular age. We know better—or so we are told. More personally, how can a scientist believe in miracles? Isn’t “believing scientist” something of…

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that The Princess Bride (1987) is a cinematic masterpiece, and a virtually limitless source of helpful quotations, from scene after scene. About two-thirds through the film, Inigo and Fezzik take the (mostly) dead Man in Black to Miracle Max asking for, well, a miracle: the resuscitation…

A close friend recently told the story of his daughter coming home from a kindergarten class in a mainline Protestant Christian school. Her teacher, also a pastor in the church, had taught the children that the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand was that because of Jesus’ influence, people shared their food with…