Divine Hiddenness

If a personal God wants a relationship with human beings, why is that God’s existence so uncertain to many sincere seekers? These essays examine divine hiddenness, nonresistant unbelief, free-will replies, and the kinds of evidence we should expect from a truth-revealing God.

Key essays

Kierkegaard on Divine Hiddenness — Evaluates the analogy of a king who hides his status in order to invite freely chosen love.
The Elastic Hiddenness Defense — Examines how hiddenness defenses can expand to explain almost any absence of clear evidence.
Would a Personal God Introduce Himself Through a Book? — Asks why a personal God would depend on ancient texts instead of direct self-disclosure.
Would Clear Evidence Remove Free Will? — Challenges the claim that knowing God exists would eliminate the freedom to reject God.
Parsimony and Christianity — Compares the explanatory commitments of Christian theism and naturalism.

Related topic guides

Faith and Rational Belief · Biblical Morality · Resurrection Arguments · Christian Apologetics · Evidence and Epistemology

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Phil Stilwell on ✓ Fine-Tuning and Theism
Sure. You have open permission to post anything from this site. Your regular feedback has been appreciated.
J on ✓ Fine-Tuning and Theism
Hi Phil: I was wondering: After coming across an online discussion posted on a biblical studies website regarding whether the…
J on ✓ Fine-Tuning and Theism
Just read this; enjoyed the summary of critiques of fine-tuning arguments. Building off what you said in one section above,…
J on ✓ Would Any God Want Belief Beyond the Evidence?
While the process probably varies from person to person, I tend to find myself assigning more confidence to beliefs if…
Phil Stilwell on ✓ Would Any God Want Belief Beyond the Evidence?
Concerning doxastic voluntarism, I remember nudging myself toward a higher credence simply because I needed something to be true. And…
J on ✓ Would Any God Want Belief Beyond the Evidence?
Hi Phil: Thanks for the new piece. This is actually oddly relevant to some stuff I’ve been thinking about lately.…
Phil Stilwell on Reasons
And thanks for your comment, Brett!
Brett Fox on Reasons
Great in-depth brutal honesty for real soul searching, including a very logical conclusion. I think your work isn’t just important…
Phil Stilwell on Reasons
Hi Christopher, I just sent you a response by email. Cheers.
Christopher Moyer on Reasons
Dear Phil, I’ve been hanging onto Christianity out of fear for decades now. Back in college, I started doing some…

Phil Stilwell

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