Show Notes

Quick Tip

• Rehearse answers to common questions at various times throughout the day. The typical objections to belief in God come up over and over again. There are the slogan-type objections (i.e. “I believe in one fewer God than you”) and the more substantial objections (e.g. the problem of evil and suffering). Practice answering those questions in short snippets (30-40 seconds) as well as longer answers.
• The more you practice, the more ready you will be for a conversation about the faith.

Show Outline

• Dr. Michael Rea answers the following questions in our interview.
  • What first got you interested in the Problem of Hiddenness and what led you to write the book?
  • What are the two major problems of hiddenness that you aim to tackle in the book?
  • John Schellenberg’s first premise (S1) says, “If a perfectly loving God exists, then there exists a God who is always open to a personal relationship with any finite person?” What do you find problematic in this argument? 
  • What view are you inclined to adopt with respect to divine transcendence and what implications does this have for the problem of divine hiddenness?
  • Why don’t you take the approach of defending specific human goods that could be obtained through a degree of divine hiddenness?
  • What are a few summary points that you make in chapter 5 about ideal love, human love, and divine love that help you make your case?
  • Can you comment on a quote from Dr. Feser’s book Five Proofs of the Existence of God?
  • What are a few summary points from your chapters on access to religious experience?
  • Why is it difficult to actually establish that there is non-resistant nonbelief?
  • Is there anything else you want the listeners to know about your book?

Important Quote #1

If God is transcendent, then the Schellenberg problem is unsuccessful as an argument against the existence of God, as is any other version of the hiddenness problem that trades on the violation of expectations arising simply out of philosophical or commonsense conceptions of attributes like “love” and “goodness.” Divine transcendence implies humility about expectations; and humility about expectations implies that violated expectations on divine love and goodness do not support claims like “no perfectly loving God exists,” except insofar as those expectations can be defended by appeal to revelation-based systematic theological considerations. [Rea 2018, p. 57]

Important Quote #2

…historically speaking, the vast majority of human beings have been theists of some sort, and most human beings today are theists of some sort. It is true that people have often disagreed over the details, . . . but that there is some divine reality is something that most people have not only affirmed, but affirmed with some confidence, despite their not having fancy philosophical arguments for their belief . . . Evidently, if God is “hidden” from most people, most people seem to be unaware of the fact. [Feser 2017, pp. 302-303]

Resources Mentioned

• Dr. Michael Rea’s personal website: michaelrea.org
• The Hiddenness of God by Dr. Michael C. Rea (2018)
• Five Proofs of the Existence of God by Dr. Edward Feser (2017)
• A blog post of mine: 3 replies to the Problem of Hiddenness