In this chapter, we take a step back and consider a range of underlying concepts and metaphors that express something of what it means to participate, in or from another, and particularly to participate in or from God. 'Part of' language is found to have little value, while the idea of 'part in' is more promising. Notions of a limited reception from another have also been significant, as has the language of likeness. Two approaches are found to be particularly valuable: the idea of reception from a boundless source according to the distinct mode of being of the recipient, and the relation of source to recipient that is indicated by causation.

Under the title of 'participation', theologians and philosophers have explored what it means for the reality that we observe, and in which we dwell, to have its origin in a divine or transcendent source. This introductory chapter surveys what is to come in this book on the theme of participation. It considers the principal sources that are to be used, especially the Christian Bible and the writings of Thomas Aquinas. It also considers the relation between philosophy and theology, and between conceptual studies and their application within the practical details of a life lived with an eye to participation.

The final chapter of the opening five (on creation's relation to God as its cause) considers God as the final cause of creation: the goal, and one toward whom creation, and creatures, are oriented. This aspect of the relation of creation to God is particularly to be associated with the Holy Spirit. We look at what it means for a creature to achieve its fulfilment, and how that relates to God. For rational creatures, this is to be found most of all in knowing and loving God, in the beatific vision. A social dimension to human perfection is part of this.

In the first of five opening chapters on participation and divine causation, we look at 'efficient' or 'agent' causation: what it means, from a participatory perspective, for God to be the cause and agent of creation. The chapter situates the idea of participation within the foundational doctrine, common to the Abrahamic faiths, of creation as being ex nihilo. Nothing is coaeval with God; nor did God rely upon anything else for creation: on eternally existent matter, for instance. Creation is not some past event, now over, but should rather be seen as a relation of dependence upon the creator. This is explored in terms of gift and of the relation of the doctrine of creation to the doctrine of God. This leads on to a discussion of theological apologetics.

The Conclusion explores the theme of relation as integral to any participatory vision, on the basis that if all things come forth from God, then they come forth intrinsically related. Relation, and the joys and duties that accompany it, is not some secondary overlay. Here we pick up the theme of 'intra-finite participation' (the participation in, or reception from, one creature in relation to another) explored in the chapter on truth and epistemology. Central test cases here come up in the notion of the common good, and its place in a theological vision of just economics. The chapter, and the book, end where the book began, with the theme of gift: that every good and perfect gift is 'from above, coming down from the Father of lights', as the Letter of James has it.

In the first of five opening chapters on participation and divine causation, we look at 'efficient' or 'agent' causation: what it means, from a participatory perspective, for God to be the cause and agent of creation. The chapter situates the idea of participation within the foundational doctrine, common to the Abrahamic faiths, of creation as being ex nihilo. Nothing is coaeval with God; nor did God rely upon anything else for creation: on eternally existent matter, for instance. Creation is not some past event, now over, but should rather be seen as a relation of dependence upon the creator. This is explored in terms of gift and of the relation of the doctrine of creation to the doctrine of God. This leads on to a discussion of theological apologetics.

In this chapter, we take a step back and consider a range of underlying concepts and metaphors that express something of what it means to participate, in or from another, and particularly to participate in or from God. 'Part of' language is found to have little value, while the idea of 'part in' is more promising. Notions of a limited reception from another have also been significant, as has the language of likeness. Two approaches are found to be particularly valuable: the idea of reception from a boundless source according to the distinct mode of being of the recipient, and the relation of source to recipient that is indicated by causation.