If there is any person in the modern age who has embodied saintliness, it was that pillar of faith, Mother Teresa. So it was quite the surprise when, after her death in 1997 her diaries were published and we discovered that this paragon of faith had often struggled with doubt. She wrote: “If there be a God, please forgive me… I am told God lives in me – and yet the reality of darkness and coldness and emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul.”
Mother Teresa’s cry presents us with a conundrum, one that philosophers call the problem of divine hiddenness. In short, if God is perfectly good he would want people to know him, and if he is all-powerful he would be able to secure knowledge of him. And yet, countless people — from atheists to saints — question the reality of God. How can this be? If there is a God, why is he so often hidden?
In this episode of The Tentative Apologist Podcast we sit down with Travis Dumsday, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Concordia University College in Edmonton, AB. Dr. Dumsday is a prolific young philosopher who has published articles in a range of journals including Heythrop Journal, Sophia, Ratio, Faith and Philosophy, and Religious Studies. (For a list of Dr. Dumsday’s published works click here.) His areas of interest include philosophy of science, philosophy of religion and metaphysics. And in particular he has written several papers on divine hiddenness. So join us for a wide ranging conversation on God, evil and the problem of divine hiddenness as we ask the question, where is God?
