An example of this conflict is also found in the novel The Golden Ass by Apuleius , a 2nd-century- ce philosopher and rhetorician deeply interested in Hellenistic mystery cults , which taught a faith that liberated adherents from the power of the stars. In the novel the hero is converted to the goddess Isis.
Now at last you have put into the harbour of peace and stand before the altar of loving-kindness. Neither your noble blood and rank nor your education sufficed to keep you from falling a slave to pleasure; youthful follies ran away with you. Your luckless curiosity earned you a sinister punishment. But blind Fortune, after tossing you maliciously about from peril to peril has somehow, without thinking what she was doing, landed you here in religious felicity. Let her begone now and fume furiously wherever she pleases, let her find some other plaything for her cruel hands.
In the New Testament , the Greek word pronoia and related words are used rarely, but in no case are they used in the later Christian sense of providence. This is of interest because the idea of providence as such is far from foreign to the religious thinking of the New Testament. In the Gospel According to Matthew , for example, Jesus says:. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?
But even the hairs of your head are numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. Providence as used in Christianity is thus a dogmatic term rather than a biblical term; it indicates that God not only created the world but also governs it and cares for its welfare. God keeps the world in existence by his care, he rules and leads the world and mankind deliberately according to his purpose, and he does this in his omnipotence as God the Creator, in his goodness and love as revealed by his son Jesus Christ, and to further the salvation of mankind through the Holy Spirit.
The concept of providence is rooted in the belief in the existence of a benevolent, wise, and powerful deity or a number of beings that are benevolent and that are either fully divine or, at least, appreciably wiser and more powerful than human beings e. Benevolence is the primary requirement. In northern Malawi , death in later life is usually ascribed to the will of the ancestors, but a miscarriage or the death of a very young child is not considered to be their work because such an act would be in contradiction to their benevolent and helpful attitude toward their offspring.
The three attributes, however, are all essential for the concept of providence: Benevolence does not exclude the possibility of punishment in cases of transgression. There is probably no god in any religion who only rewards and helps and never punishes his believers. Providence , however, need not operate in a direct way; it may operate through many intermediary beings—e.
Thus, providence may become a more or less impersonal principle of cosmic order as instituted and maintained by a divine being, but, if the starting point of a benevolent and just divine being is completely lost sight of or if it is consciously denied, then providence becomes fate. Although the introduction of intermediary beings brings no essential change in the idea of providence as the divine watchful care for the benefit of humankind, the notion of a cosmic order changes the picture profoundly.
Even if the cosmic order is conceived as a benevolent order in which one is able to feel safe and whose very existence is reassuring, such an order is different from the personal relationship between an individual and his god or gods. The concept of an unchangeable world order requires a different reaction.
A personal god may, perhaps, be moved by prayer and sacrifice to cause or to prevent events; when the order of the world is fixed, however, the course of events cannot be changed by these or any other means. There is probably no religion that acknowledges an all-embracing world order without any exceptions at all. Generally, human beings have such an important function in the order of the world that they also have a certain opportunity to manipulate this order, at least to a certain extent—for instance, by sacrifice or other ritual acts.
One opening is presented by the fact that the cosmic order is valid for everything of a more general character, but as a rule the divine will, human free will , and chance operate on the level of the common occurrences and daily life of the individual. Though in theory the order may govern everything, a large field is left open for different concepts to function.
In some cases even uncertainty and chance have their proper place within a determined order. In the Yoruba religion Nigeria , for example, the god Eshu represents the principle of chance and uncertainty and of all that cannot be foreseen. He is one of the gods of the pantheon and has his own sanctuaries and priests. Another possibility for combining the idea of a personal divine will with a fixed course of events is the concept of predestination , best known from Islam and some forms of Calvinism derived from the thought of John Calvin , a 16th-century French Protestant Reformer and also important in the theology of St.
Augustine of Hippo , a 4th—5th-century Church Father. Although predestination essentially is concerned with salvation —the question of whether a certain individual will be saved or damned—it is a concept that easily lends itself to a more general application. In a few religions the idea that the individual chooses his own destiny before birth is encountered—e. In this conception free will and predestination merge.
In all religions that acknowledge the existence of a more or less impersonal cosmic order, human beings are expected to work with the cosmos by inserting themselves into the cosmic order.
Human behaviour in all fields is governed by a set of rules that are all based on the same principle: The cosmic order is given with the creation of the world, but it is possible to question the relation of the creator to the world after creation. On one hand, there is the belief that God will not abandon the world he has created; on the other, there is the belief that God created the world and the cosmic order in such a manner that to a great extent the course of the world is fixed from the first beginning and he is no longer involved in it.
The latter was, in fact, the thesis of the 17th- and 18th-century Deists in Europe. The fact of creation helps humans to believe in providence because it would be inconsistent for the creator god or gods not to care for the further existence of the created world.
Only persistent disobedience and open rebellion can then furnish a reason for the Creator to abandon or destroy the world. This situation is expressed in the myths of a great flood or some other form of destruction sent as a punishment. There is, however, never a total destruction of the world in these myths, although this final solution may be threatened for the eschatological ultimate end future. It may also be promised, if the eschatological events are construed as the definitive institution of a world order that is perfect for all eternity and will never deteriorate. The cosmic order is often clearly contrasted with the disorder of chaos.
The cosmic order is a total order; it comprises not only all natural things but also social and ethical rules. This does not mean that cultures and religions centred on a cosmic order have no clear idea of distinctive ethical principles but that ethics is considered as one function of the total cosmic order and as such can never be quite independent. The rules of ethics depend on and are derived from the more general rules that govern the cosmos in its totality; they are no more than special manifestations of these general rules. An example of this attitude can be found in the Greek hymns in praise of the goddess Isis.
She is honoured as the queen of heavens; she divided the earth from the heaven , showed the stars their paths, and ordered the course of the sun and the moon. But the same hymn says that she ordained that children should love their parents, that she taught humans to honour the images of the gods, and that she made justice stronger than gold and silver.
She established penalties for the people practicing injustice and taught that suppliants should be treated with mercy. She is also praised because she invented writing , devised marriage contracts, invented navigation , and watches over all those who sail on the sea. Things may not happen in the way that we expect. However God, in His almighty providence, can bring good even from the consequences of evil. Paul knew this first from the history of his Jewish people. We read this in the story of Joseph in the Old Testament. Joseph's brothers had sold him into slavery in Egypt.
However he rose to a position of power in Egypt. Later, Joseph was able to help his brothers during a time a famine. Reflecting on what had happened, Joseph explained God's workings to his brothers. The passage above is from Genesis The life of Jesus Christ is the greatest example of God's providence. It was not by chance that the iniquitous Israeli King Ahab was struck by an arrow that flew in between the seams of his armor.
Truly that arrow was directed by the hand of God, just as was the one which struck Julian the Apostate; only for the soldier who let fly the arrow was it accidental. It was not by chance that swallows flew into the home of Tobit and blinded the righteous man.
Nothing happens by chance. It was not by chance that Christ met with the Samaritan woman at the well in Sychar and spoke with her. All this was foreseen and written down in the books of Divine Providence before the beginning of time.
Divine Providence is a book published by Emanuel Swedenborg in which describes his systematic theology regarding providence, free will, theodicy , and other related topics. Both meanings of providence are applicable in Swedenborg's theology, in that providence encompasses understanding, intent and action. Divine providence relative to man is 'foresight', and relative to the Lord is 'providence'. These writings maintain that divine providence means that God is directing or even recreating every minute detail of creation. This analysis thus underpins much of Orthodox Judaism 's world view , particularly as regards questions of interaction with the natural world.
There is little theological literature on the terms provenance or providence in LDS studies. As stated above, Reformed theology relates these terms to predestination, which does have more prominence in LDS theology, if only as a polemical term. One particular text that could be interpreted as being related to such terms is in the Book of Abraham. As Abraham is shown the heavens, he is also shown the pre-mortal spirits of mankind.
And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born. The "making of rulers" above is explained as foreordination in the chapter summary as opposed to "predestination" [14]. This differentiation balances free will or free agency in LDS theology against Divine intervenion. Noted LDS scholar Richard Draper has described the church's position thusly, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rejects the belief in predestination-that God predetermines the salvation or the damnation of every individual The LDS position is based in part on the teachings of Paul that God "will render to every man according to his deeds" and that "there is no respect of persons with God" Rom.