Freedom from Fatalism Samuel Rutherford's (1600–1661) Doctrine of Divine Providence Band 68

The legacy of Samuel Rutherford (1600–1661) endures chiefly through his devotional letters. His scholastic theology on the other hand has been criticized as overly deterministic and even fatalistic, a charge common to Reformed Orthodox theologians of the era. Recent scholarship on Reformed Scholasticism has provided the opportunity to reevaluate such claims. This project applies the new scholarship on Reformed Orthodoxy to Rutherford’s doctrine of divine providence. The doctrine of divine providence touches upon many of the disputed points in the older scholarship, including the relationship between divine sovereignty and creaturely freedom, necessity and contingency, predetermination, and the problem of evil. Rutherford describes God’s providence as a work of God’s being, knowledge, will, and power. Therefore, following an introduction to his life and work, this project dedicates a chapter each to God’s being, knowledge, will, and power. Utilizing all three of his Latin works of scholastic theology (Exercitationes Apologeticae pro Divina Gratia 1636, Disputatio Scholastica de Divina Providentia 1649, Examen Arminianismi 1668), special attention is paid throughout to place Rutherford within the larger scholastic context of his medieval forbears as well as his early modern contemporaries. In these first five chapters, the reader will note Rutherford’s emphasis on an absolutely independent Creator and an absolutely dependent creation. Counterintuitively, the absolutely free and independent Creator does not utilize his sovereignty to dominate his subordinate creatures, rather he uses his own freedom to guarantee the freedom of his creatures. This will become clear in the final two chapters of this project, which deal with the scholastic definition of providence and the relationship between providence and human freedom, respectively. This analysis of Rutherford’s understanding of God’s sovereignty and free will challenges the older scholarship while making useful contributions to the ongoing, lively conversation concerning the same "Samuel Rutherford's (1600-1661) scholastic theology has been criticized as overly deterministic and even fatalistic, a charge common to Reformed Orthodox theologians of the era. This project applies the new scholarship on Reformed Orthodoxy to Rutherford's doctrine of divine providence. The doctrine of divine providence touches upon many of the disputed points in the older scholarship, including the relationship between divine sovereignty and creaturely freedom, necessity and contingency, predetermination, and the problem of evil. Through a close examination of Rutherford's Latin works of scholastic theology, as well as many of his English works, a portrait emerges of the absolutely free and independent Creator, who does not utilize his sovereignty to dominate his subordinate creatures, but rather to guarantee their freedom. This analysis challenges the older scholarship while making useful contributions to the lively conversation concerning Reformed thought on freedom." --Provided by publisher