Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T17:58:55.195Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Affloter, J (2007) Human nature as God's purpose. Religious Studies 43, 443–455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benatar, D (2017) The Human Predicament. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goetz, S (2012) The Purpose of Life: A Theistic Perspective. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Manson, N (2009) Why design? In Nagasawa, Y & Wielenberg, EJ (eds), New Waves in Philosophy of Religion. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 68–11.Google Scholar
Mawson, TJ (2005) Belief in God. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mawson, TJ (2016) God and the Meanings of Life. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Mawson, TJ (Forthcoming) Am I here by accident? In Vicens, L and Furlong, P (eds), Theological Determinism: New Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mullins, RT (2016) The End of the Timeless God. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mullins, RT (2021) Classical Theism. In Arcadi, J (ed.), T&T Clark Handbook of Analytic Theology. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Nagasawa, Y, Oppy, G and Trakakis, N (2009) Salvation in Heaven? Philosophical Papers 33, 97–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nemes, S (2020) Divine simplicity does not entail modal collapse. In da Silveira, CFC and Tat, A (eds), Roses and Reasons: Philosophical Essays. Bucharest: Editura Eikon, pp. 101–120.Google Scholar