Is Chancy compatible with Being Divinely Guided?

Here, we aim to identify the challenges facing compatibilists, who believe that the existence of the chance involved in processes producing the biosphere, which is one of the main pillars of the evolutionary theory, is compatible with guidedness of the life, which is an essential part of theism. Is it possible that God created and guided a world that is full of chance? We put this question under consideration, which is a question that, despite its importance, has received little attention so far, and aim to provide a precise formulation of it. We discuss that to do so we need to consider three main sub-questions:


• Are the meanings of chance and guidedness compatible?


• How can chance events that are blind and directionless shape a purposeful and guided biosphere?


• How can chance events, which are possibilities and could have not occurred, be substantial parts of a designed biosphere?


We explain each sub-question in detail and review some of the most important responses offered. We argue that none of those attempts can successfully resolve the tension between chance and guidedness.