Overview

The argument from divine hiddenness contends that God's apparent absence or hiddenness from human experience provides evidence against the existence of a perfectly loving God who desires relationship with all people.

The Basic Problem

If God exists and is perfectly loving, we might expect God to be more obviously present and available to all people. Yet many sincere seekers report finding no evidence of God's existence, and billions of people throughout history have lived without any apparent divine encounter.

The Core Question:
Why would a loving God who desires relationship with all people remain hidden from those who earnestly seek divine presence?

Contemporary Importance

The hiddenness argument has gained significant attention in recent philosophy of religion as a powerful challenge to traditional theism, particularly affecting conceptions of God as perfectly loving and desiring universal salvation.

Schellenberg's Argument

J.L. Schellenberg has developed the most influential contemporary version of the hiddenness argument.

Schellenberg's Argument:
1. If God exists, God is perfectly loving
2. If God is perfectly loving, God would ensure that all people capable of relationship with God would be in a position to participate in such relationship
3. If all people capable of relationship with God were in a position to participate in such relationship, there would be no reasonable nonbelief
4. There is reasonable nonbelief
5. Therefore, God does not exist

Key Concepts

  • Perfect love: Unsurpassable care and concern for the wellbeing of others
  • Reasonable nonbelief: Lack of belief in God despite sincere inquiry
  • Divine-human relationship: Conscious, personal connection with God
  • Capacity for relationship: Mature, intellectually capable humans

The Love Analogy

Parent-Child Relationship

Schellenberg argues that loving parents don't hide from their children when the children seek them. Similarly, a perfectly loving God wouldn't remain hidden from sincere seekers, as this would prevent the relationship that love desires.

Types of Divine Hiddenness

Divine hiddenness manifests in various forms across different contexts and cultures.

Evidential Hiddenness

  • Lack of clear evidence for God's existence
  • Ambiguity in religious experience
  • Absence of unambiguous miracles
  • Conflicting religious traditions

Experiential Hiddenness

  • Absence of religious experience despite seeking
  • Periods of spiritual dryness in believers
  • Unanswered prayers and silence
  • Lack of divine guidance in moral decisions

Historical and Cultural Hiddenness

Demographic Considerations:
Large populations have lived without exposure to monotheistic religions, and geographic/cultural factors heavily influence religious belief patterns.

Temporary vs. Permanent Hiddenness

Degrees of Hiddenness

Some argue that divine hiddenness is not absolute but varies in degree. Even believers may experience periods of divine silence, while some nonbelievers report occasional spiritual experiences.

Reasonable Nonbelief

The concept of "reasonable nonbelief" is central to the hiddenness argument and requires careful analysis.

Characteristics of Reasonable Nonbelief

  • Sincere inquiry: Genuine seeking and investigation
  • Intellectual honesty: Following evidence where it leads
  • Absence of culpable ignorance: Not willfully avoiding truth
  • Emotional openness: Willingness to believe if convinced

Examples of Reasonable Nonbelievers

  • Thoughtful philosophers who find theistic arguments unconvincing
  • Former believers who lose faith after careful study
  • Sincere seekers who find no evidence despite investigation
  • Those raised in non-theistic cultures who never encounter compelling evidence
The Rationality Requirement:
For nonbelief to be reasonable, it must be based on rational consideration of available evidence rather than mere rebellion, ignorance, or emotional rejection.

Empirical Evidence

Studies suggest that factors like education, geography, and cultural background significantly influence religious belief, supporting the idea that much nonbelief results from circumstances rather than moral failure.

Theistic Responses

Theistic philosophers have developed various responses to the hiddenness argument.

Soul-Making Theodicy

  • Hiddenness allows for genuine moral choice without coercion
  • Faith requires some uncertainty to be meaningful
  • Spiritual growth requires struggle and seeking
  • Direct divine presence might overwhelm human freedom

The Greater Good Defense

Skeptical Theism Response:
We cannot know all of God's reasons for remaining hidden. There may be morally sufficient reasons that justify divine hiddenness, even if we cannot discern them.

Questioning the Premises

  • Divine love: Perhaps God's love doesn't require constant presence
  • Relationship necessity: Maybe relationship with God isn't necessary for all
  • Reasonable nonbelief: Questioning whether nonbelief is truly reasonable

The Divine Pedagogy Response

Educational Hiddenness

Some argue that divine hiddenness serves educational purposes, allowing humans to develop intellectually and morally without divine interference, ultimately leading to more authentic relationship with God.

Criticisms of the Argument

The hiddenness argument faces several philosophical challenges and objections.

The Problem of Moral Responsibility

  • If God's hiddenness is justified, why hold people responsible for unbelief?
  • How can nonbelief be sinful if God deliberately remains hidden?
  • This creates tension with traditional doctrines of judgment

Empirical Challenges

  • Widespread religious experience across cultures
  • Conversion experiences of former atheists
  • Religious experiences in unexpected contexts
  • Transformative power of religious faith

Conceptual Problems

The Definitional Challenge:
Critics argue that defining "reasonable nonbelief" and "perfect love" is problematic, and that the argument depends on controversial assumptions about divine attributes.

Alternative Explanations

Natural Reasons for Hiddenness

Some argue that apparent divine hiddenness can be explained by natural factors—the difficulty of recognizing divine action, the limitations of human cognition, or the complexity of interpreting religious experience.

Assessment

The argument from divine hiddenness represents one of the most sophisticated challenges to traditional theism in contemporary philosophy of religion.

Strengths of the Argument

  • Addresses a genuinely puzzling phenomenon
  • Challenges traditional concepts of divine perfection
  • Accounts for widespread sincere nonbelief
  • Raises important questions about divine love and justice

Ongoing Debates

  • The nature and extent of divine hiddenness
  • Criteria for reasonable nonbelief
  • The relationship between divine love and divine hiddenness
  • The adequacy of various theodicies

Philosophical Significance

Broader Implications

Whether or not the hiddenness argument succeeds, it has enriched philosophical discussion about divine attributes, religious epistemology, and the problem of evil. It forces reconsideration of traditional assumptions about God's relationship to humanity.

Continuing Relevance:
As long as people experience God's absence or hiddenness, the philosophical question of what this means for divine existence and character will remain significant for both believers and nonbelievers.