Abrahamic Reflections on Randomness and Providence

Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
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