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Wellsprings
christian-theology-properfeatured in 40 works

Divine Providence

God not only made the world but governs and upholds it toward its appointed end

Divine providence is the teaching that God governs and sustains all creation, guiding it toward its appointed ends. Boethius explored it in his Consolation of Philosophy, written in prison, and Augustine reflected on God's ordering of history. On this the historic churches broadly agree: nothing falls outside God's care, and his wisdom directs both the whole of creation and the lives within it.

How it traveled

  1. Romans
    Corinth · 67
    explains
  2. Acts
    Rome · 84
    explains
  3. Against Heresies: Book II
    Lyons · 202
    explains
  4. Against Heresies: Book IV
    Lyons · 202
    explains
  5. A Treatise on the Anger of God Addressed to Donatus
    — · 325
    explains
  6. Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died
    — · 325
    explains
  7. The Life of Constantine with Orations of Constantine and Eusebius
    Caesarea · 339
    explains
  8. The Church History of Eusebius
    Caesarea · 339
    explains
  9. The Letters
    Caesarea (Cappadocia) · 379
    explains
  10. The Hexæmeron
    Caesarea (Cappadocia) · 379
    explains
  11. A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  12. The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  13. The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  14. The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  15. The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  16. The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  17. Homilies on Second Corinthians
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  18. The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  19. The Commentary and Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Galatians and Ephesians
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  20. City of God
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  21. Expositions on the Book of Psalms
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  22. The Confessions
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  23. Letters of St. Augustin
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  24. The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret
    Cyrrhus · 458
    explains
  25. Selected Epistles of Gregory the Great
    Rome · 604
    explains
  26. Treatise on The One God (QQ[2-26])
    Paris · 1274
    explains
  27. Treatise on the Conservation and Government of Creatures (qq[103]-119)
    Paris · 1274
    explains
  28. Treatise on the Work of the Six Days (qq[65]-74)
    Paris · 1274
    explains
  29. Treatise on The Creation (QQ[44-46])
    Paris · 1274
    explains
  30. Internal Consolation
    Zwolle · 1471
    explains
  31. Discussion: Second Part
    Wittenberg · 1546
    explains
  32. Book First. of the Knowledge of God the Creator
    Geneva · 1564
    explains
  33. Book Third. the Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ. the Benefits It Confers, and the Effects Resulting from It
    Geneva · 1564
    explains
  34. a careful and strict inquiry into the prevailing notions of the freedom of will
    Northampton, Massachusetts · 1758
    explains
  35. A History of the Work of Redemption
    Northampton, Massachusetts · 1758
    explains
  36. Dissertation on the End for Which God Created the World
    Northampton, Massachusetts · 1758
    explains
  37. Seventeen Occasional Sermons
    Northampton, Massachusetts · 1758
    explains
  38. The great christian doctrine of original sin defended
    Northampton, Massachusetts · 1758
    explains
  39. Thoughts on the Revival of Religion in New England
    Northampton, Massachusetts · 1758
    explains
  40. Seven Sermons. On Important Subjects
    Northampton, Massachusetts · 1758
    explains

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Modern teachers who discuss this idea

Modern and living teachers whose books take up Divine Providence. These works are still in copyright, so we can’t show the text here — each links out to the book.