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Why are we here?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2021

T. J. Mawson Open the ORCID record for T. J. Mawson [Opens in a new window]
T. J. Mawson*
Affiliation:
St Peter's College, Oxford University, Oxford, OX1 2DL, Oxford, UK
*
Corresponding author: T. J. Mawson, E-Mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

If one believes in God, what should one say is the answer to the question of why we are here? In this article, I hope to show that when we ask why we are here we ask several different questions at once and that Theism allows (indeed dictates) that these different questions have very different answers. Appreciating these differences can remove at least that perplexity generated when an answer which could well be plausible were it to be given in response to one question of God's purpose for us is mislocated and treated as if it were an answer to another.

Keywords

purposeprovidenceGodtheism
Type
Original Article
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 58 , Issue 4 , December 2022 , pp. 759 - 771
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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