Divine Agency and Divine Action, Volume IV: a Theological and Philosophical Agenda by William J. Abraham

Author:William J. Abraham [Abraham, William J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780192653987
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Published: 2021-04-16T00:00:00+00:00

Divine Agency and Divine Action Volume IV: A Theological and Philosophical Agenda. William J. Abraham, Oxford University Press (2021). © William J. Abraham. DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198786535.003.0008

1 What is ultimately at stake here is where we stand on the epistemology of theology. For a comprehensive treatment of this see William J. Abraham and Frederick D. Aquino, eds., The Oxford Handbook of the Epistemology of Theology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017). My own vision of epistemology is essentially a vision of agent-epistemology that makes human agents the focus of attention. For my treatment of the epistemology of theology as it pertains to the Christian tradition, see my Crossing the Threshold of Divine Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2006).

2 I read the text in its final canonical form because this is the form of the text bequeathed to us in both the Jewish and the Christian traditions. I leave aside for now questions about earlier editions and final editorial formation, even though I do not at all discount the importance of this work in our readings of the text.

3 I explore the epistemic consequences of personal trauma as represented by death in my Among the Ashes: On Death, Grief, and Hope (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2017).

4 Exodus 5:22–3.

5 Exodus 6:2–8. Emphasis mine.

6 Exodus 2:24.

7 Pharaoh is acting foolishly here, for success would spell the decimation of his labor force!

8 See, for example, the remarkable treatment of this issue in John L. Nevius, Demon Possession (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1968). The original was published in 1894.

9 Exodus 4:21.

10 Exodus 9:27.

11 Exodus 10:16.

12 Exodus 9:13–17. Emphasis mine.

13 Clearly, this has enormous significance for the limitations of traditional forms of theological apologetics that focus merely on arguments and evidence but pay no attention to the reception of such arguments and evidence.

14 Exodus 14:30–1. Emphasis mine.

15 There is initial acceptance of the claims of Moses at Exodus 4:31, but this is short-lived.

16 Exodus 15:1–20.

17 Exodus 18:1; 18:10.

18 Exodus 19:16.

19 Exodus 40:38.

20 For a groundbreaking philosophical study of liturgy see Terence Cuneo, Ritualized Faith (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 2016.

21 Theories of inerrancy and infallibility are intimately tied to these kinds of theories about the divine origin of scripture. There are surprising spinoffs to observe. One of these is to appeal to them in order to reject the significance of precisely the kind of epistemic moves I have traced here in the book of Exodus.

22 The initial problem with all such theories is not just the difficulty of securing the story of the divine origin of the oral tradition involved but the danger of heading towards an infinite regress. If we need a divinely dictated or inspired oral tradition to understand a sacred text, then the next question on the horizon is whether we can understand the oral interpretation on offer. Do we need another interpretation to understand the oral interpretation? Consider, for example, the difficulty of understanding papal pronouncements that are supposed to settle hermeneutical disputes. The pronouncements turn out to require yet further interpretation given the debates they engender.

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