Philosophy of Religion Group Presents: Professor Michael Rea, “Hiddenness and Transcendence”

March 6, 2015
All Day
347 University Hall

Abstract: Within analytic philosophy of religion, the phenomenon of divine hiddenness is taken to be highly problematic, standing in manifest tension with the traditional concept of God as perfectly loving and so perfectly concerned with the highest good of human beings and other creatures. In the thought of apophatic theologians, however, the phenomenon of divine hiddenness seems to be regarded as a perfectly obvious consequence of divine transcendence (an attribute which is acknowledged, though under-emphasized within the analytic tradition). In this paper, I will explore the question whether attention to divine transcendence genuinely mitigates the so-called “problem of divine hiddenness”, or whether the robust “theology of divine transcendence” that one commonly finds in the work of apophatic theologians instead underemphasizes those intuitions about divine perfection that render the problem acute.

To ask questions about accessibility or request accommodations, please contact Michelle Brown at 614-292-7914 or brown.930@osu.edu. Two weeks' advance notice will allow us to provide seamless access.