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.
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Randall B. Smith is Associate Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas.
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