RT Article
T1 Re-evaluating the hiddenness argument from above
JF International journal for philosophy of religion
VO 85
IS 2
SP 193
OP 211
A1 Vandergriff, Kevin
LA English
YR 2019
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1663422435
AB J. L. Schellenberg's hiddenness argument for atheism (2015) assumes that God's perpetual openness to a relationship with any finite person is consistent with their perpetual flourishing. However, I argue that if Aquinas-Stump's account of the nature of love is true, then any finite person flourishes the most only if they attain the greatest degree of union among God and all relevant parties. Moreover, if Humean externalism is true, then any finite person might not have their greatest attainable degree of union among God and all relevant parties, as soon as possible, unless God sacrifices some time in the union-not the whole union-with them. Accordingly, God's perpetual openness might not be consistent with the future flourishing of any finite person-from which it follows that a crucial assumption of the hiddenness argument might not be true.
K1 Aquinas-Stump
K1 Atheism
K1 Hiddenness
K1 Love
K1 Motivational externalism
K1 Nonresistant Nonbelief
K1 Schellenberg
DO 10.1007/s11153-018-9676-z