Transcript Powerpoint: Hiddeness of God and Religious Diversity
Philosophy of Religion
Lecturer: Dr Victoria Harrison Department of Philosophy University of Glasgow
Philosophy of Religion in a Multi cultural World
We can interpret the world • Religiously, or • Naturalistically.
• Both are rational.
The world is religiously ambiguous
Moreover, a number of religious interpretations are available • Monotheistic • Non-theistic
Which religious view seems best often depends on a person’s culture, for example • Semitic • Asian
If God exists… • Why is neither God’s existence nor God’s nature obvious?
• Why isn’t atheism foolish?
• The evidence neither for nor against the existence of God is overwhelming.
If God exists, God is hidden
How hidden is God? The evidence: • Loss of belief • Millions have no awareness of God • Believers sense God’s presence obscurely • Abundance of explanations for God’s hiddenness • Preoccupation of theists with arguments for God’s existence • God is hidden to virtually all within certain cultures
Why would God choose to make belief difficult?
• Has God sacrificed ‘goods of clarity’ for ‘goods of mystery’?
Explanations for God’s hiddenness • Human defectiveness theories • Divine transcendence theories • Hiddenness is a means to producing goods of mystery.
Goods of mystery • Genuine moral choice
Character formation • The self as a project
If the existence and nature of God were obvious • Atheism would be irrational • All rational people would be theists.
• This is not the case.
• Given the hiddenness of God, how should we respond to religious diversity?
Three Types of Theory Responding to Religious Diversity • Religious Exclusivism E.g., Alvin Plantinga • Religious Inclusivism E.g., Karl Rahner • Religious Pluralism Eg., John Hick
Religious Exclusivism • Key claim: One religion is exclusively correct.
• Its claims are exclusively true. If the claims of other religions contradict these, then the claims of the other religion must be false.
• It alone offers a way to salvation.
• Problems…
Religious Inclusivism • One religion has the monopoly of religious truth-claims.
• However, salvation may be available through alternative traditions – despite their false claims.
• Problems…
Religious Pluralism • Key claim: All major religious traditions are authentic.
• Different forms of religious pluralism: • The most influential is John Hick’s.
The key claims of Hickean pluralism • Each world religion has its own phenomenal reality.
• Since each world religion has its own phenomenal reality, the claims of one world religion do not conflict with those of another world religion.
• Each world religion is a response to the same thing: The ‘Real’.
• Responding to this phenomenal reality is, so far as we can tell, equally effective in each world religion.
What does this entail?
• Each world religion is equally valid.
Problems with Hickean Pluralism • Truth • Experience • Appropriateness of responses • Religious language
END