The Madness of Providential Thinking

In my Religion and the American Founding course we are reading through Nicholas Guyatt’s excellent Providence and the Invention of the United States (Cambridge, 2007). One of Guyatt’s points is that “providence” has always been politicized in American history. In other words, God’s providence is usually invoked to support the particular agenda of the one who invokes it.

While preparing for class the other day, I came across this interesting piece on providential thinking by Scot McKnight at Jesus Creed blog. It illustrates why providence, if you believe in it, can be a lousy category for understanding politics and history.