Yesteryear’s Faith Seeking Understanding: New England Disputations on Providence; With a Historical-Theological Introduction

by Philip John Fisk; Gerald R. McDermott

Publisher:

Resource Publications

, 2022

The voices of yesteryear's scholastics are silenced. Scholastic distinctions discarded. Faith seeking understanding cancelled. This book turns to university professors who brought classical, medieval, Reformation, and Renaissance thought to bear on the teaching of the doctrine of providence at the early New England Colleges. Their ultimate purpose was to exonerate God from the charge that he was the author, even actor, of evil. Their scholastic method drew from a long and surprisingly ecumenical and philosophical enterprise in the history of the church. This book's aim is to let the scholastic approaches to the mystery of divine providence speak for themselves. Part One introduces the reader to the art of disputation and provides a guided historical-theological tour of scholastic distinctions that were used by doctors of the church to explain issues related to the doctrine of divine providence. Part Two invites the reader to follow the author on his journeys to Harvard, Yale, the College of New Jersey, and the College of Rhode Island, and Providence Plantations' commencement-day disputations as he engages in Platonic-like dialogues with presidents, rectors, and students of the New England Colleges. While the dialogues are imagined, the characters, times, locations, and quoted texts are real.

Praise for Yesteryear’s Faith Seeking Understanding

“Many thanks to Philip Fisk for his herculean labors in keeping scholastic argumentation regarding the doctrine of God’s providence and the freedom of the will on the minds and hearts of scholars and pastors alike. We need the kind of careful thinking that work like this requires, in our churches most obviously, but even in the academy, where painstaking reasoning and fair-minded conversation are rarer than most people understand.”

—Douglas A. Sweeney, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University

Product Details

• Title: Yesteryear’s Faith Seeking Understanding: New England Disputations on Providence; With a Historical-Theological Introduction
• Authors: Philip John Fisk, Gerald R. McDermott
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Print Publication Date: 2022
• Logos Release Date: 2022
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Ebook
• ISBNs: 9781666729511, 9781666729498, 9781666734058, 1666729515, 1666729493, 1666734055
• Resource ID: LLS:9781666729511
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-12-22T06:50:54Z

About the Authors

Philip John Fisk is a guest associate professor in historical theology at the Jonathan Edwards Center Benelux, headquartered at the Evangelische Theologische Faculteit, Leuven, Belgium. He is the author of A Book of Faith Seeking Understanding: Fifty-Two Lord’s Day Readings (2021) and, Jonathan Edwards’s Turn from the Classic-Reformed Tradition of Freedom of the Will (2016).