Divine Hiddenness and Human Sin: The Noetic Effect of Sin

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between human sin and divine hiddenness, drawing on views that are widely acknowledged within the Reformed tradition. It argues, first, that according to these views there is no inculpable nonbelief, and thus, second, that a crucial premise in the atheistic argument from divine hiddenness is untenable. The overarching question here is: If there is a sensus divinitatis, is it possible to be an inculpable nonbeliever? To answer this question, the cognitive effects of sin on our sensus divinitatis as a faculty of producing basic beliefs about God will be assessed. I conclude that the premise which many find plausible—that there is inculpable nonbelief—is in fact controversial and dubious.

Divine hiddenness: part 1 (recent work on the hiddenness argument)

“…Discussions of 4 prevalent early on in the discussion of the hiddenness argument tended to be onesidedly influenced by Calvinist ideas of sinfulness and ignored the nonbelief of vast ages prior to the development of theistic religion. Here and there, one still finds this sort of opposition to the existence of nonresistant nonbelief (e.g., Azadegan, ). But recent work on the subject has generally been quite different, with appeals to cognitive psychology and social epistemology replacing unquestioned religious doctrine.…”

The Problem of Divine Hiddenness: A Wojtylian Response

“…While Wojtyla takes the idea of sin as an impediment to recognizing God's reality as a fundamental assumption, one may question its plausibility. However, some thinkers have already developed this idea into various full-fledged arguments against the problem (Moser 2002;Lehe 2004;Azadegan 2013).…”

Divine hiddenness and special revelation

“…4.See Aijaz & Weidler (2007), Azadegan (2013a; 2013b; forthcoming), Cullison (2010), Cuneo (2013), Dumsday (2010a; 2010b; 2012a; 2012b; 2013), Evans (2006; 2010), Henry (2001; 2008), Howard-Snyder (1996), King (2008; 2013), Marsh (2008), McBrayer & Swenson (2012), McCreary (2010), McKim (2001), Moser (2008), Murray (2002), Oakes (2008), O'Connell (2013), Poston & Dougherty (2007), Rea (2009), Swinburne (1998; 2004), van Inwagen (2002; 2006), Tucker (2008), and Weidler & Aijaz (2013). …”