TY - JOUR AU - Diedericks, M. PY - 2012/06/29 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Die Voorsienigheidsleer van Augustinus JF - Tydskrif vir Christelike Wetenskap | Journal for Christian Scholarship JA - TCW/JCS VL - 48 IS - 1-2 SE - DO - UR - https://pubs.ufs.ac.za/index.php/tcw/article/view/285 SP - 251-278 AB - <p>Throughout history, in crisis times the question of God’s providence emerges. After the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in America, the question of God’s providence raised attention. For answers to questions about God’s providence theologians such as Aquinas, Calvin, Arminius, and König went back to the church father Augustine. Rightly so, because Augustine’s influence on the Western world is so big that he is called the father of Western Christianity. In studying Augustine’s teachings on providence the influences of his time must also be taken into account, such as his licentious youth, the death of his mother and son and the fall of Rome. Also the theological and philosophical influences of his time like the Manichaeism, Neo-Platonism and Pelagianism must be considered. From this study it is clear that Augustine’s view of providence develops out of his protological approach. Therefore his confession of God as Creator is the starting point of his teaching on providence. The result is that Augustine’s confession of God as Creator can’t be seen separate from his confession of God as a personal Father. Augustine’s protological approach is an aspect that theologians should rediscover in the study of providence. </p> ER -