The most recent episode of “Unbelievable” features a very fruitful exchange between Justin Schieber and Christian apologist Blake Giunta on the hiddenness of God. Schieber defends the hiddenness argument from J.L. Schellenberg. (See my review of Schellenberg’s recent book here and his reply here. And just for the heck of it see his endorsement of […]
divine hiddenness
On the Use of People to Benefit Other People: A response to Jason Thibodeau
In my review of John L. Schellenberg’s book The Hiddenness Argument I offered the following scenario as a possible reason why God would choose to defer the initiation of personal relationship with a non-resistant nonbeliever: “It is possible that in the decade during which she is an atheist, Liz will bring many resistant nonbelievers to a greater understanding of absolute […]
On Divine Hiddenness: J.L. Schellenberg Responds to My Review
A few days ago I posted my review of philosopher John L. Schellenberg’s fine book The Hiddenness Argument: Philosophy’s New Challenge to Belief in God. Professor Schellenberg emailed me a response this morning and he has agreed to have it posted here. So without further ado, here is Professor Schellenberg: * * * I’ve now taken a […]
The Hiddenness Argument Revealed: A Review
J.L. Schellenberg, The Hiddenness Argument: Philosophy’s New Challenge to Belief in God (Oxford University Press, 2015). The writer of Ecclesiastes famously opined, “There is nothing new under the sun.” It’s a sentiment that might seem at times to characterize the field of philosophy of religion. To be sure, there are new advances, but new arguments for or […]
Meaningful relationship and propositional knowledge: A response to Justin Schieber (Part 2)
Yesterday I had an exchange with Jason Thibodeau in the discussion thread for “Meaningful relationship and propositional knowledge: A response to Justin Schieber (Part 1)“. I’m going to highlight part of that exchange here and then unpack my points further. Jason began by offering an account of what Justin Schieber might have meant by suggesting that the […]
Meaningful relationship and propositional knowledge: A response to Justin Schieber (Part 1)
Over the next few weeks I plan to comment on several points in my recent debate with Justin Schieber. So you can consider this the first installment in a series. (I suggest you watch or listen to the debate before partaking of this critical review.) In this installment I am going to comment on the […]
Then We Shall See Face to Face: Some reasons for divine hiddenness
In this article I pick up the thread of a conversation with philosopher Jason Thibodeau in response to my podcast “The 59-Second Apologist: The Argument from Divine Hiddenness. First, the background. Jason began by outlining what he called a “reciprocal affection tendency” (henceforth RAT): “Suppose, then, that a significant percentage of humans have reciprocal affection […]
7. The 59-Second Apologist: The Argument from Divine Hiddenness
The Argument from Divine Hiddenness, first developed by philosopher J.L. Schellenberg, seeks to argue that God doesn’t exist based on the existence of reasonable non-belief. In this episode of the 59-Second Apologist Randal offers a quick summary of the argument along with two replies. Click here to read J.L. Schellenberg’s forthcoming paper “Divine Hiddenness and Human […]
Can there be reasonable nonbelief if God exists?
In the discussion thread to “Why they don’t believe: Jeffery Jay Lowder“, Bryan asked me to provide my critique of Schellenberg’s argument from God or Godless. I replied first by presenting Schellenberg’s argument as it was quoted by John Loftus: (1) If there is a God, he is perfectly loving. (2) If a perfectly loving God […]
33,000 denominations. And the problem is…?
So there are 33,000 Christian denominations. Or 42,000. Or 51,000. What’s the problem? Let’s preface the discussion at the outset with the rather glaring observation that over a billion Christians are Catholic. And the rest can, for the most part, be subdivided into rather large groups: several hundred million orthodox, a hundred million Anglicans, Lutherans, […]
God, why are you hiding? A Reflection
Thinking about God is not a waste of time. Or so I’ve argued. Admittedly it’s hardly a surprising thesis coming from the mouth of a theologian. But the reasons for its importance go far beyond my own need to protect my profession and paycheck. If God is there, he’s the most important reality there is. […]
Does God limit evidence to protect human freedom?
Seventeenth century apologist Blaise Pascal famously claimed that the degree of evidence for Christian faith is set at the optimal level to secure the role of divine electing grace: “there is enough evidence to condemn and not enough to convince, so that it should be apparent that those who follow it are prompted to do […]
Freddie Mercury and other lonely (and not so lonely) lost souls
Today I was listening to “Somebody to Love” by Queen on youtube when I noticed the following in the comments: God, I have an idea. You give us Freddie and Michael Jackson back, we’ll give you Justin Bieber. Heh heh. Although I must confess I’m not so sure about Michael Jackson. (And as for all […]
How to confound Christians with bad arguments: #2 The Indistinguishable Argument
This morning I was in a state of some emotional distress for I could not figure out what to blog about. So I put on my best white suit, plastered my hair down with Brylcreem, laid hands on the computer, and prayed in my best televangelist voice “Oh Lawrd! Send your servant a topic!” And […]
