Includes bibliographical references (pages 155-160) and index.

Otherness and oneness: rival conceptions of God -- Establishing the primordiality of the agent, act, and agency -- Edward Pols and the metaphysics of agency -- The metaphysical conditions for God as agent -- How can God act in the world? : divine action and the infrastructure of the socio-temporal-material world -- Theology and the discernment of God's acts in history -- Coda on the mystery of God as agent.

"There are two philosophical commitments requisite to Christian belief: that God is the ultimate mystery and that God is present and active in the world. Attempting to avoid the trappings of a radical distantiation and the immanent collapse of God and world, Frank Kirkpatrick argues for a theory of agency and action that preserves the mystery of God while providing a philosophically robust account of divine action in created time and space. Kirkpatrick proposes a way around the stalemates that have stymied thought on divine agency and enters into conversation with significant figures in systematic theology."--Publisher's website.