The Problem of Divine Hiddenness in The Context of Schellenberg and Different Approaches

Religion and Philosophical Research 5 (1):37-52 (2022)
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Abstract

The problem of divine hiddenness discussed among both theist and non- theist circles. From an atheistic perspective the existence of people who are sincerely looking for God but cannot reach Him is a supportive point for atheism. On the other side, same problem supports agnosticism since there are equal evidence from both side for the existence of God from an agnostic perspective. The theists who are belonging to different religion have tried to find some solutions to this problem. For instance; there is a theistic understanding which claims hiddenness of God provides us freedom to believe and another one says it is the only way to have personal relationship with God. A different position brings solution from the Jewish idea that chosen people of God. In this article, I have evaluated those different approaches. In the first section, I have indicated that there is no agreement on the implication of divine hiddenness problem even amongst non-theistic positions by shortly introducing atheistic and agnostic approaches. In the second section, I dealt with theistic approaches and the problems that they produced while trying to provide a solution to the problem. After an inquiry on how we are supposed to understand hiddenness, I have tried to show the problem has nothing new since premises of the divine hiddenness problem are not verifiable by everyone. As a conclusion I have offered postponing the divine hiddenness problem and discussing existence of God on a rational ground by presenting a counterargument.

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Abdullah Arif Adalar
Sakarya University

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References found in this work

``Pluralism: A Defense of Religious Exclusivism".Alvin Plantinga - 1995 - In Kevin Meeker & Philip Quinn (eds.), The Philosophical Challenge of Religious Diversity. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 172-192.
What is the Problem of the Hiddenness of God?Peter van Inwagen - 2002 - In Daniel Howard-Snyder & Paul K. Moser (eds.), Divine Hiddenness: New Essays. Cambridge University Press.
Seeking but not believing: Confessions of a practicing agnostic.Paul Draper - 2002 - In Daniel Howard-Snyder & Paul K. Moser (eds.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 197--214.
Religious experience.Mark Webb - 2011 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

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