Examining Schellenberg's Hiddenness Argument

273 Pages·2018·2.54 MB·English

by  Veronika Weidner

PALGRAVE FRONTIERS IN PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
Examining
Schellenberg’s
Hiddenness
Argument
Veronika Weidner
Palgrave Frontiers in Philosophy of Religion
Series Editors
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Department of Philosophy
University of Birmingham
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Veronika Weidner
Examining
Schellenberg’s
Hiddenness Argument
Veronika Weidner
Catholic Theological Faculty
Ludwig Maximilian University
of Munich
Munich, Germany
Palgrave Frontiers in Philosophy of Religion
ISBN 978-3-319-97516-0 ISBN 978-3-319-97517-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97517-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018950416
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In loving memory
of my grandparents
A
cknowledgements
First of all, I wish to express my grand gratitude and heart-felt thanks
for the extraordinary support of Prof. Armin Kreiner in the process
of writing this book. Staying calmly in the background, I knew that I
could always count on him being available immediately whenever I
sought advice. I thank the Catholic Theological Faculty at the Ludwig
Maximilian University of Munich, not least for deciding to honour
me with the Cardinal Wetter Award 2017 of the Catholic Academy in
Bavaria. From February until July 2016, I was offered the chance to
take special leave and enroll as a Recognised Student at the University
of Oxford. I sincerely appreciate the generous grants which I received
from the Catholic Theological Faculty, the LMUMentoring excellence
program for female junior scientists, and the international scholar-
ship program PROSALMU at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.
In Oxford, John L. Schellenberg developed his hiddenness argu-
ment while pursuing a D.Phil. under the supervision of Prof. Richard
Swinburne in the late 1980s, and I wrote large parts of my book there.
I owe thanks to Prof. Graham Ward for his welcoming hospitality at
the Faculty of Theology and Religion and to Prof. Brian Leftow as well
as to Prof. Richard Swinburne for conversation about the hiddenness
argument. Furthermore, I very much appreciate Prof. Daniel Howard-
Snyder’s making the latest version of his paper’s then-draft entitled
“The Skeptical Christian” available to me. I am particularly indebted
to Prof. Christoph Jäger, Prof. Thomas Schärtl-Trendel, Prof. John L.
Schellenberg, Prof. Charles Taliaferro, Prof. Holm Tetens, Prof. Martin
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thurner, and Dr. Leigh Vicens for their very helpful comments on earlier
drafts of my manuscript. My special thanks goes to Dr. Luke Teeninga
who made significant linguistic corrections on the manuscript’s penul-
timate version and also provided most valuable remarks on its content.
Last but not least, I feel deep gratitude for the more than precious
encouragement of my family and friends. From the bottom of my heart,
I would like to thank Alma, Anna, Bianca, Christin, Constanze, Judith,
Katharina, Lisa, Mari, Miriam, Silvia, and Veronica, my three brothers
Ferdinand, Philipp, and Vinzenz, and, above all, my parents Katharina
and Michael.
c
ontents
1 Introduction 1
Part I Schellenberg’s Hiddenness Argument
2 Setting the Stage 13
2.1 Hiddenness in a Literal Sense 16
2.1.1 Missing His Presence—Hiddenness I 17
2.1.2 His Incomprehensible Essence—Hiddenness II 18
2.1.3 His Revelatory Works—Not That Hidden I 26
2.1.4 His Existence in Evidence—Not That Hidden II 43
2.2 Hiddenness Taken Non-Literally 51
2.2.1 The Occurrence of Nonresistant Nonbelief 51
2.2.2 Two Final Notes 53
3 Its Most Recent Statement 57
3.1 Preliminaria 58
3.1.1 Anti-Theistic 59
3.1.2 Deductive 64
3.1.3 Evidentialistic 65
3.1.4 Propositional and Experiential Hiddenness 73
3.1.5 Experiential and Propositional Evidence 77
3.1.6 The Hiddenness Argument and the Argument
from Evil 86
ix
x CONTENTS
3.2 The Argument Itself 91
3.2.1 Divine Love—Premises (1) and (2) 92
3.2.2 Conclusio (3) 110
3.2.3 No Nonresistant Nonbelief to Be Expected—
Premise (4) 111
3.2.4 Conclusio (5) 146
3.2.5 There Is at Least One Nonresistant Nonbeliever—
Premise (6) 146
3.2.6 Conclusio (7) 151
Part II Discussion of the Hiddenness Argument
4 Where to Go from Here? 155
4.1 Making Travel Arrangements 155
4.2 A Very Short Overview of Various Routes to Take 157
4.2.1 Avoiding Misunderstandings 158
4.2.2 Making Comparisons to the Argument from Evil 161
4.2.3 Challenging Schellenberg’s Premises 162
4.2.4 Introducing Further Propositions 167
4.2.5 Thinking a Step Ahead 175
4.3 My Way 177
4.3.1 Reading the Road Map 179
4.3.2 Tidying up and Packing a Bag 182
4.3.3 Ready for Take-Off 215
5 Conclusion 245
Bibliography 249
Index 265