Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T03:09:44.514Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Divine hiddenness as divine mercy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2011

TRAVIS DUMSDAY
TRAVIS DUMSDAY
Affiliation:
Religious Studies Department, Livingstone College, 701 West Monroe St., Salisbury NC, 28144 e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

If God exists, why isn't His existence more apparent? In recent analytic philosophy this longstanding question has been developed into an argument for atheism typically referred to as the ‘problem of divine hiddenness’. My goal here is to put forward a new reply. The basic idea is that there is some reason to think that for many of us, our moral conduct would not improve even if God's existence were not subject to doubt. However, immoral conduct in such a state of affairs would be even more immoral, and hence justly subject to greater punishment, than it is in a state of affairs in which God's existence is subject to doubt. As such, God mercifully remains ‘hidden’ in order to limit our moral culpability.

Type
Articles
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , June 2012 , pp. 183 - 198
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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

Aijaz, I., and Weidler, M. (2007) ‘Some critical reflections on the hiddenness argument’, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 61, 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Athanasius, St (1892) On the Incarnation of the Word, trans. Robertson, A. (Buffalo: Christian Literature Publishing Co.).Google Scholar
Augustine, St (1993) On Free Choice of the Will, trans. Williams, T. (Indianapolis: Hackett).Google Scholar
Chrysostom, St John (1889) Homilies on First Corinthians, trans. Chambers, T. W. (Buffalo: Christian Literature Publishing Co.).Google Scholar
Drange, T. (1993) ‘The argument from non-belief’, Religious Studies, 29, 417–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dumsday, T. (2010a) ‘Divine hiddenness, free-will, and the victims of wrongdoing’, Faith and Philosophy, 27, 423–438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dumsday, T. (2010b) ‘Divine hiddenness and the responsibility argument’, Philosophia Christi, 12, 357–371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, C. S. (2006) ‘Can God be hidden and evident at the same time? Some Kierkegaardian reflections’, Faith and Philosophy, 23, 241–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenwick, P. (1996) ‘The neurophysiology of religious experience’, in Bhugra, D. (ed.) Psychiatry and Religion (London: Routledge), 167–177.Google Scholar
Gaine, S. F.O.P., (2003) Will there be Free Will in Heaven? Freedom, Impeccability and Beatitude (New York: T & T Clark).Google Scholar
Hay, D. (1994) ‘The biology of God: what is the current status of Hardy's hypothesis?’, International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 4, 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henry, D. (2001) ‘Does reasonable nonbelief exist?’, Faith and Philosophy, 18, 75–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henry, D. (2008) ‘Reasonable doubts about reasonable nonbelief’, Faith and Philosophy, 25, 276–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard-Snyder, D. (1996) ‘The argument from divine hiddenness’, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 26, 433–453.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kant, I. (1956) Critique of Practical Reason, trans. Beck, L. (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill).Google Scholar
Kant, I. (1978) Lectures on Philosophical Theology, trans. Wood, A. and Clark, G. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press).Google Scholar
Keller, J. (1995) ‘The hiddenness of God and the problem of evil’, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 37, 13–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Layman, C. S. (2007) Letters to Doubting Thomas: A Case for the Existence of God (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Maitzen, S. (2006) ‘Divine hiddenness and the demographics of theism’, Religious Studies, 42, 177–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKim, R. (2001) Religious Ambiguity and Religious Diversity (Oxford: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moser, P. (2008) The Elusive God: Reorienting Religious Epistemology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murray, M. (2002) ‘Deus Absconditus’, in Howard-Snyder, D., and Moser, P. (eds) Divine Hiddenness: New Essays (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 62–82.Google Scholar
Nazianzus, St Gregory (1894) Orations, trans. Browne, C. G. and Swallow, J. E. (Buffalo: Christian Literature Publishing Co.).Google Scholar
Oakes, R. (2008) ‘Life, death, and the hiddenness of God’, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 64, 155–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poston, T., and Dougherty, T. (2007) ‘Divine hiddenness and the nature of belief’, Religious Studies, 43, 183–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rea, M. (2009) ‘Narrative, liturgy, and the hiddenness of God’, in Timpe, K. (ed.) Metaphysics and God: Essays in Honor of Eleonore Stump (London: Routledge), 76–96.Google Scholar
Schellenberg, J. (1993) Divine Hiddenness and Human Reason (Ithaca: Cornell University Press).Google Scholar
Schellenberg, J. (1996) ‘Response to Howard-Snyder’, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 26, 455–462.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schellenberg, J. (2005a) ‘The hiddenness argument revisited (I)’, Religious Studies, 41, 201–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schellenberg, J. (2005b) ‘The hiddenness argument revisited (II)’, Religious Studies, 41, 287–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schellenberg, J. (2005c) ‘On Reasonable Nonbelief and Perfect Love: Replies to Henry and Lehe’, Faith and Philosophy, 22, 330–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schellenberg, J. (2007a) ‘On not unnecessarily darkening the glass: a reply to Poston and Dougherty’, Religious Studies, 43, 199–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schellenberg, J. (2007b) The Wisdom to Doubt: A Justification of Religious Skepticism (Ithaca: Cornell University Press).Google Scholar
Schellenberg, J. (2008a) ‘Reply to Aijaz and Weidler on Hiddenness’, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 64, 135–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schellenberg, J. (2008b) ‘Response to Tucker on hiddenness’, Religious Studies, 44, 289–293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spilka, et al. (2003) The Psychology of Religion: An Empirical Approach (New York: Guilford).Google Scholar
Swinburne, R. (1998) Providence and the Problem of Evil (Oxford: Clarendon Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swinburne, R. (2004) The Existence of God. 2nd rev. edn (Oxford: Clarendon Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tucker, C. (2008) ‘Divine hiddenness and the value of divine-creature relationships’, Religious Studies, 44, 269–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Inwagen, P. (2002) ‘What is the Problem of the Hiddenness of God?’, in Howard-Snyder, D. and Moser, P. (eds) Divine Hiddenness: New Essays (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 24–32.Google Scholar
van Inwagen, P. (2006) The Problem of Evil (Oxford: Clarendon Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar