 It has been argued that Olivi is one of the few medieval authors to argue that God is not a concurrent cause of actions of created beings (Frost 2014; the following is based on this article). Although not a completely novel idea, this position was almost obsolete in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; the only author in addition to Olivi to defend it was Durandus of St. Pourçain (ca. 1275–1332). Medieval authors typically argued that God is the universal first cause and, as such, he must directly take part in every causal process that is brought about by created things. This position, known as “concurrentism,” was defended as an effort avoid occasionalism (defended mainly by Islamic philosophers) while preserving the theological idea that nothing in this world happens or exists without God.