Divine Hiddenness and Human Reason (Cornell Studies in the Philosophy of Religion)

Why, if a loving God exists, are there "reasonable nonbelievers," people who fail to believe in God but through no fault of their own? In Part 1 of this book, the first full-length treatment of its topic, J. L. Schellenberg argues that when we notice how a relationship with God logically presupposes belief in God, we have grounds to conclude that there would be no reasonable nonbelievers if theism were true, and thus―given their existence―grounds for atheism. This argument, he maintains, is not defeated by any of an array of counterarguments seeking to justify divine hiddenness drawn from the work of such writers as Pascal, Kierkegaard, Butler, and Hick, and from the author's own imagination―arguments meticulously scrutinized in the book's second part. Divine Hiddenness and Human Reason has generated a great deal of interest and discussion since its first publication in 1993 and continues to set the agenda for work on its issues today.