Waiting for God?
Randall Smith on the Meaning of "Providentially, Just in Time"
A fellow professor once commented to me on an odd phrase in a piece of student writing. A young woman had written that an event had occurred "providentially, just in time." My colleague thought this expression belonged in the files of "The Department of Redundancy Department." To say that an event was "providential" is, at least on the Christian understanding of providence, to affirm that the event happened exactly at the time it was supposed to. Thus, to my colleague, "just in time" seemed unnecessary.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
Randall B. Smith is Associate Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas.
subscription options
Order
Print/Online Subscription
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Order
Online Only
Subscription
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more from the online archives
28.5—Sept/Oct 2015
on Our Sacred Duty to Teach the Devil to Death by Marcus Johnson
31.6—November/December 2018
Victimhood Culture Scapegoats Its Very Source by Michael P. Foley
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
