Abrahamic Reflections on Randomness and Providence

Kelly James Clark is author, co-author, or editor of more than 30 books including Religion and the Sciences of Origins, Strangers, Neighbors Friends: Muslim-Christian-Jewish Reflections on Compassion and Peace, and Abraham’s Children: Liberty and Tolerance in an Age of Religious Conflict.Jeffrey Koperski is Professor of Philosophy at Saginaw Valley State University. He is the author of The Physics of Theism: God, Physics, and the Philosophy of Science, and Divine Action, Determinism, and the Laws of Nature.

• Part I Introduction.- 1. Randomness and Providence: Is God a Bowler or a Curler?.- Part II The Problem(s) Stated.- 2. The Many Faces of Randomness.- 3. Randomness and Providence: Defining the Problem(s).- Part III Science.- 4. Randomness in the Cosmos.- 5. Randomness, Providence, and the Multiverse.- 6. Can a Muslim be an Evolutionist?.- 7. Chance, Evolution, and the Metaphysical Implications of Paleontological Practice.- Part IV The Abrahamic Faiths.- 8. Judaism and Providence.- 9. Randomness and Providence in Christian Thought.- 10. God, Cosmos, and Humanity: Muslim Perspectives on Divine Providence.- Part V Providence and Chance.- 11. Reconciling Meticulous Divine Providence with Objective Chance.- 12. Creatio Continua and Quantum Randomness.- 13. Causality, Indeterminacy, and Providence: Contemporary Islamic Perspectives from Said Nursi and Basil Altaie.- 14. Divine Action and the Emergence ofFour Kinds of Randomness.- 15. God et al.— World-Making as Collaborative Improvisation: New Metaphors for Open Theists.- 16. Saadia on “what is in the hearts of people when they reach the limits of endurance in a trial”.- 17. Randomness, Causation, and Divine Responsibility.