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Journal ArticleDOI

The Vulnerability of Action

Robert A. Ellis
- 01 Jun 1989 - 
- Vol. 25, Iss: 02, pp 225-233
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TLDR
The concept of the perfect agent has been used in the context of action and agency in the Church as discussed by the authors, where it is claimed that there is a perfect agent who never fails, who accomplishes all and everything he sets out to do.
Abstract
Human agents, unless they be crazed by some impediment of mind, are usually all too painfully aware of the risks inherent in their task of exercising agency. We are vulnerable as we act to forces not fully within our control, to unsound judgements which we ourselves make, and to the limits of our own reach which we sometimes miss or ignore. However, it is common enough in orthodox Christian circles, when transposing the concepts of action and agency to the divine, to remove the element of risk which so closely accompanies our own experience of action. God, it is claimed, is the perfect agent – who never fails – who accomplishes all and everything he sets out to do.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI

Is the Notion of a Divine Basic Act a Necessary and Sufficient Way of Talking about God's Actions in the World?

TL;DR: It may not be possible or necessary to reserve space for divine basic acts which override or bypass the intervening apparati of causal mechanisms provided that God has total control over them.

Do the Results of Divine Actions have Preceding Causes

TL;DR: Von Wachter as discussed by the authors proposed an alternative view: God's actions, unlike human actions, are not initiated by willings, undertakings, or volitions, but God brings about the intended event directly.

If God brought about the Big Bang, did he do that before the Big Bang?

TL;DR: In this article, a non-compatibilist solu-tion of the dilemma of free will is proposed, which states that God's actions, unlike human actions, are not initiated by willings, undertakings, or tryings, but bring about the intended event directly.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

The Self as Agent.

Book

Thought and Action

Book

The Philosophy of action

Alan R. White
Book

The self as agent

TL;DR: Macmurray's work is a philosophy of community as discussed by the authors, a philosophy that relates to many contemporary philosophical and religious concerns, as well as having a bearing on current historical/sociological, political, and feminist critiques of contemporary American society.
Book

God the problem