Table of Contents: Abrahamic Reflections on Randomness and Providence.

Abrahamic Reflections on Randomness and Providence.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Clark, Kelly James.
Other Authors:	Koperski, Jeffrey.
Format:	eBook
Language:	English
Published:	Cham : Springer International Publishing AG, 2021.
Edition:	1st ed.
Subjects:	Electronic books.
Online Access:	Click to View

Table of Contents:

Abrahamic Reflections on Randomness and Providence
Contents
List of Figures
Notes on Contributors
Part I: Introduction
Chapter 1: Randomness and Providence: Is God a Bowler or a Curler?
1.1 How Does God Do It?
1.2 The Bible Tells Me So
1.3 Modern Science
1.4 Is God a Bowler or a Curler?
1.5 Randomness and Providence
1.6 Conclusion
Bibliography
Part II: The Problem(s) Stated
Chapter 2: The Many Faces of Randomness
2.1 No Single Definition
2.2 Purpose
2.3 Probability and Statistics
2.4 Physics
2.4.1 Statistical Mechanics
2.4.2 Chaos Theory
2.4.3 Instability and Singular Points
2.4.4 Norton's Dome
2.4.5 Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking
2.4.6 Quantum Mechanics
2.5 Biology
Bibliography
Chapter 3: Randomness and Providence: Defining the Problem(s)
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Ontological Randomness
3.2.1 Randomness as Indeterminism
3.2.2 Randomness as Purposelessness
3.3 Divine Providence
3.3.1 Super Meticulous Providence
3.3.2 Meticulous Providence
3.3.3 General Providence
3.4 The Problems
3.4.1 Power
3.4.2 Knowledge
3.4.3 Goodness
3.5 Conclusion
Bibliography
Part III: Science
Chapter 4: Randomness in the Cosmos
4.1 Introduction
4.2 What Is Randomness?
4.3 Randomness in the Early Universe
Galaxy Formation
4.4 Randomness and Chaos in the Formation of the Solar System
4.5 Stability of the Planetary System
4.6 Formation of the Moon
4.7 Randomness in the Bombardment of the Earth by Meteoroids
4.8 Randomness in the Sun's Activity
4.9 Randomness, Order in the World, and Divine Providence
Bibliography
Chapter 5: Randomness, Providence, and the Multiverse
5.1 The Indifferent Universe of Materialism
5.2 General and Special Providence
5.3 Is the Universe Fine-Tuned for Life?.
5.4 Debates on Fine-Tuning
5.5 The Cost of Each Option
Bibliography
Chapter 6: Can a Muslim be an Evolutionist?
6.1 Religious Authority
6.2 Creation: Processive or Instantaneous Creation?
6.3 Creation in Six Stages (Days)
6.4 Creation of Man from Clay
6.5 Human Dignity, Common Ancestry
6.6 Nafsi Wahida: Descent from Adam and Eve?
6.7 Theological Agnosticism
6.8 Conclusion
Bibliography
Chapter 7: Chance, Evolution, and the Metaphysical Implications of Paleontological Practice
7.1 Evolutionary Metanarratives
7.2 Chance and Contingency Versus Convergence and Predictability in the History of Life
7.2.1 Contingency
7.2.2 Convergence
7.2.3 Contemporary Coda
7.3 Chance and Selection in the Fossil Record: Successful Paleontological Practices
7.4 Potential Implications for Divine Providence?
7.5 Conclusion
Bibliography
Part IV: The Abrahamic Faiths
Chapter 8: Judaism and Providence
8.1 The Basics of Judaism
8.2 Providence and Randomness
8.3 The Question of Providence and Five Answers
8.3.1 Answer 1: Particular Providence Over Everything
8.3.2 Answer 2: Particular Providence Over People Only
8.3.3 Answer 3: Particular Providence Over Righteous People Only
8.3.4 Answer 4: Particular Providence in the Land of Israel Only
8.3.5 Answer 5: Philosophical Transcendence
8.4 An Idealist Interlude
8.5 Radical Reductions
8.6 Idealism and Providence
8.7 Conclusion
Bibliography
Chapter 9: Randomness and Providence in Christian Thought
9.1 Goals and Orientation
9.2 Introduction to Christianity
9.2.1 The Person of Jesus
9.2.2 Early Christianity
9.3 Christian Thinking on Divine Providence
9.3.1 Providence in Scripture
9.3.2 Fathers of the Church on Divine Providence
9.4 What About Randomness?
9.4.1 Grappling with Preexisting Thought.
9.4.2 The Augustinian Model of Providence
9.4.3 Enter Aristotelianism
9.4.4 Modern Science
9.5 A Possible Solution
Bibliography
Chapter 10: God, Cosmos, and Humanity: Muslim Perspectives on Divine Providence
10.1 What Is Islam? Or Inferring Providence from Scripture
10.2 Avicenna: Divine Creative Agency and the Mediation of the Prophet
10.3 Mullā Ṣadrā on Providence, Evil, and Love
10.4 Concluding Remark
Bibliography
Part V: Providence and Chance
Chapter 11: Reconciling Meticulous Divine Providence with Objective Chance
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Six Failed Reconciliations
11.2.1 Determinism
11.2.2 Molinism
11.2.3 Thomism
11.2.4 Divine Luck
11.2.5 Multiverse
11.2.6 Peter van Inwagen's Model
11.3 Pruss's Solution: A Theistic Version of Lewis's Best-Fit Model
11.3.1 Lewis's Best-Fit Model
11.3.2 The Explanatory Weakness of Lewis's Chance
11.3.3 Saving the Principal Principle
11.3.4 Pruss's Reconciliation of Providence and Chance
11.4 Some Objections to Pruss's Account
11.4.1 The Gambler's Fallacy
11.4.2 The Credence/Chance Conceptual Gap
11.5 A Divine Command Theory of Rational Credence
11.5.1 The Model and Its Advantages
11.5.2 Objections
Bibliography
Chapter 12: Creatio Continua and Quantum Randomness
12.1 Introduction
12.2 The Christian Traditions
12.2.1 Nicolas Malebranche
12.2.2 René Descartes
12.2.3 Jonathan Edwards
12.3 The Islamic Traditions
12.3.1 The Ash'arite Worldview
12.3.2 Motivation and Justification
12.3.3 Implications
12.4 The Common View
12.4.1 Conservation Without Determinacy
12.4.2 The Equivalence Thesis
12.4.3 The Edwards-Ash'arite Thesis
12.4.4 The Bottom-Up and the Determinacy Theses
12.5 Continuous Creation and Quantum Mechanics
12.6 Objections and Replies
12.7 Conclusion.
Bibliography
Chapter 13: Causality, Indeterminacy, and Providence: Contemporary Islamic Perspectives from Said Nursi and Basil Altaie
13.1 Introduction
13.2 Said Nursi: Causality, Laws of Nature, and Indeterminacy as Signs of God
13.2.1 Nursi's Approach to Natural Causality in the Context of Contemporary Theories of Causation
13.2.2 Nursi on Laws of Nature
13.3 Quantum Physics Interpreted: Altaie on Laws of Nature, Indeterminism, and Causality
13.3.1 Genuine Indeterminacy in Nature
13.3.2 Altaie on Laws of Nature
13.3.3 Causality: First and Second Level of Analysis
13.3.4 Re-creation: An Interpretation of Indeterminism
13.4 Conclusion
Bibliography
Chapter 14: Divine Action and the Emergence of Four Kinds of Randomness
14.1 Modes of Divine Action
14.2 The Metaphysics of Emergence
14.3 The Emergence of Meaning, Intentionality, and Mathematical Knowledge
14.4 The Emergence of Phenomenal Qualia
14.5 The Emergence of Life
14.6 The Emergence of Thermodynamics and Chemistry
14.7 Downward Causation in Modern Quantum Theory
14.8 Some Theological Reflections
Bibliography
Chapter 15: God et al.- World-Making as Collaborative Improvisation: New Metaphors for Open Theists
15.1 Introduction
15.2 Classical Theism and Its Metaphors
15.2.1 The Bird's-Eye View
15.2.2 God as Instantaneous Author
15.2.3 God: The Lone World-Artist
15.2.4 Problems with the Metaphors
15.3 Metaphors for Open Theists
15.3.1 The Shrinking Tree
15.3.2 More Dynamic Metaphors: 'Books-in-Progress' and the 'Growing Block'
15.3.3 God as Collaborative Improvisational Director-Participant
15.3.3.1 Example 1: Jazz Band Leader
15.3.3.2 Example 2: Improv Troupe Director-Participant-Christopher Guest's Model
15.4 Salutary Upshots
15.5 Conclusion
Bibliography.
Chapter 16: Saadia on "what is in the hearts of people when they reach the limits of endurance in a trial"
Bibliography
Chapter 17: Randomness, Causation, and Divine Responsibility
17.1 Augustinian Approaches to Evil
17.2 Zimmerman on Shared Responsibility
17.3 Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Abrahamic Reflections on Randomness and Providence.

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