Date of Award
5-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Publisher
Santa Clara : Santa Clara University, 2025
Degree Name
Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL)
Director
Christopher M. Hadley, S.J.
Abstract
Mainly addressing secularized Christian communities, we explore how miraculous healing supports the thesis that special divine action is a specific instantiation of divine creative action. While Christians acknowledge Christ’s healing ministry, which is continued in various forms by the Church, a theology of divine action in healing is essential for engaging with contemporary scientific and medical perspectives. The theology of divine action, articulated by William Stoeger and Denis Edwards, provides a framework for understanding special divine action as a particular mode of God’s creative action. We examine three main insights of this theological approach: understanding God as the first cause, grounded in the principle of creatio ex nihilo; conceiving God’s creative action as operating through the laws of nature; and recognizing the Christological dimension of divine creative action. God’s relationship with humanity is also relevant to interpreting history and discerning God’s intention for creation. The coherence between this divine intention and the natural laws through which God acts suggests that God establishes conditions that make God’s intention possible. Viewing the setting of these conditions as part of divine creative action allows us to affirm that universal salvific events, such as the Incarnation and the Resurrection, can be understood as integral to divine creative action. The Incarnation and the Resurrection could be interpreted as conditions that make possible God's intention to draw creation into f1,1II communion with God. By noticing the Christological dimension of these two special salvific acts and the special divine action in miraculous healing, we argued that divine special action constitutes a specific mode of divine creative action.
Recommended Citation
Ratsimbarison, Herintsitohaina Mahasedra, "How God Acts in Healing Miracles: Understanding Special Divine Action as God's Universal Creative Action through the Theological Approach of William R. Stoeger, S.J." (2025). Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations. 147.
https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/jst_dissertations/147
