One fundamental theme in the theistic religious traditions has been that God acts purposefully to call the world into being and to guide its history. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all include in their sacred scriptures substantial (and overlapping) collections of stories about divine action. These stories present a drama of magnificent scope, setting human events in the wider context of cosmic history and portraying God's relationship with humans as an ongoing dialogue characterized by repeated divine initiatives, inconstant human responses, painful reversals, and renewed opportunities. The God of the biblical narratives establishes a covenant with Abraham, liberates the Hebrew people from slavery and gives them the law, makes Israel an independent kingdom, raises up prophets who call the nation to justice, and judges and sustains the people in their tragedies of political defeat and exile. Christians take up these stories and...