Divine and Human Action

Abstract “Divine action must be strictly ‘coincident’ with uninterrupted finite action”, is the theorem, inspired by reading Austin Farrer, that dominates Rowan Williams’ Christ the Heart of Creation. It asserts the unbroken integrity of creaturely action in the presence of divine action. I shall defend this theorem, while at the same time reading Austin Farrer in a different sense, questioning the role Williams assigns to it, as “crystallising the general language of metaphysics” and linking creation and Christology. Williams’s exposition of the theorem is guided by the principle that God cannot be “another item” in any list. But excessive reliance on this negative principle creates a problem for categories that will embrace divine and human agency relationally, especially the category of “person”, normally congenial to Williams. I argue that the coincidence‐theorem must be located within the doctrine of providence, which speaks of the conformity of divine action to the limits of creaturely experience, and that “coincidence” must be understood as “cooperative grace”.