Contact: Dan Howard-Snyder, professor of philosophy, (360) 650-7767 or dan.howard-snyder@wwu.edu
BELLINGHAM—Michael Rea, a professor of philosophy and the director of the Center for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame, will speak on “The Hiddenness of God” in the first installment of the annual Lectureship on Philosophy and Christianity at Western Washington University. The lecture will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, May 21, in Fraser Hall Room 2 on the WWU campus.
The aim of this new lecture series is to engage in an intellectually critical fashion various philosophical issues that arise within the context of theistic religious traditions in general and Christianity in particular, said WWU philosophy professor Dan Howard-Snyder.
The topic of divine hiddenness is popular in contemporary philosophy of religion.
“Atheists and agnostics cite divine hiddenness as an obstacle to belief in God,” Rea said. “If God loves us, they ask, then why isn’t the existence of God more evident to us? Surely an all-powerful God could make himself more widely known if he wanted to; and one would think that a God who loves us in the ways that Jews, Christians and Muslims say that God loves us would want to make himself more widely known.”
Divine hiddenness presents other problems, too, Rea said, among believers who struggle with the fact that the being they worship won’t even so much as whisper words of love and encouragement to them as they go through life’s trials and tribulations.
“I think that it makes more sense to speak of God as silent rather than hidden, since I see no reason to believe that God has made it impossible for people to find him by seeking him in the right ways,” Rea said. “I think that divine silence, even in the face of horrendous suffering, is fully compatible with divine love, so long as other conditions are satisfied (conditions which we have no good reason to believe aren’t satisfied).”
Rea is the author of two books: “World Without Design: The Ontological Consequences of Naturalism,” published in 2002 by Oxford University Press, and “Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion,” which he wrote with Michael Murray, published in 2008 by Cambridge University Press. Rea also is the author of numerous articles on philosophy.
Rea also will be speaking at the Northwest Student Philosophy Conference at WWU on Saturday, May 23. His topic for that lecture is “Understanding the Mystery of the Two Natures of Christ,” on the Christian doctrine of the incarnation. Kit Fine, a professor of philosophy at New York University, will present the keynote address at the conference.
No parking permit is required to park after 5 p.m. in the gravel lots 12A and the C lots south of the Academic Instructional Center, near Fairhaven College. Parking meters require payment all hours.
For more information on this lecture, contact philosophy professor Dan Howard-Snyder at (360) 650-7767 or dan.howard-snyder@wwu.edu.
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