The Problem of Divine Hiddenness in the Context of Science

Miłosz Hołda; Dominique Lambert

doi:10.18290/rf21693-3

Miłosz Hołda Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0649-2168
Dominique Lambert Centre Universitaire Notre-Dame de la Paix, University of Namur, France https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6415-3175

Keywords: divine hiddenness, science, absconditheism, discordism, concordism, articulation

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to try to find a solution to the problem of divine hiddenness, which in the context of science takes the form of the question of why, if God exists, science can completely ignore Him and yet explain away so much. We formulate the “argument from hiddenness in the context of science” modelled on the “argument from hiddenness” proposed by J. L. Schellenberg and show possible ways to refute this argument. We also propose a refutation in the form of “explanatory absconditheism,” the best expression of which is the thesis of “articulation” of scientific and theological ways of explaining the world. We also argue that the thesis of “explanatory absconditheism” can be extended to the entire discussion of divine hiddenness, providing possible response to the “argument from hiddenness.”

The article was financially supported by the National Science Center in Poland; research project "Deus absconditus - Deus revelatus. The Problem of Cognitive Inaccessibility of God and Its Solutions", grant no. 2018/29/B/HS1/00922.

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