Divine Hiddenness, Greater Goods, and Accommodation
J.L. Schellenberg argues that one reason to think that God does not exist is that there are people who fail to believe in Him through no fault of their own. If God were all loving, then He would ensure that these people had evidence to believe in Him so that they could enter into a personal relation...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Springer Netherlands
[2017]
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| In: |
Sophia
Year: 2017, Volume: 56, Issue: 4, Pages: 589-603 |
| IxTheo Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism NBC Doctrine of God |
| Further subjects: | B
Divine Hiddenness
B Nonresistant Nonbelief B Theism B Atheism B Greater Goods |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | J.L. Schellenberg argues that one reason to think that God does not exist is that there are people who fail to believe in Him through no fault of their own. If God were all loving, then He would ensure that these people had evidence to believe in Him so that they could enter into a personal relationship with Him. God would not remain hidden'. But in the world, we actually do find people who fail to believe that God exists, and their nonbelief does not seem to be due to their resisting God. I argue that if there are valuable goods brought about by God's hiddenness, then even if each of those goods might obtain without hiddenness, God would have a sufficient reason for remaining hidden so long as enough of those goods would be made sufficiently more valuable because of God's hiddenness. If this is the case, then the existence of nonresistant nonbelievers' in the actual world does not entail that God does not exist. |
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| ISSN: | 1873-930X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Sophia
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/s11841-016-0561-x |