Opaque Theism and Divine Testimony

A much-discussed objection to skeptical theism is that skeptical theism implies that divine testimony cannot provide us with knowledge. Here I argue that it is not skeptical theism that raises doubts about the trustworthiness of divine testimony; rather, the vast amount of inscrutable evil in our world together with God’s track record of deception is the source of the trouble. I draw on that insight to develop further my divine deception argument (Wielenberg 2014). The argument I will defend goes roughly like this: There is a lot of inscrutable evil in the world and the Christian God has a track record of being deceptive about future events. Therefore, divine testimony regarding future events is not a source of knowledge that such events will occur.

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Publication Details

Journal
TheoLogica An International Journal for Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Theology
Published
2024-11-13
DOI
https://doi.org/10.14428/thl.v9i1.83943
Primary Topic
Theology and Philosophy of Evil
Type
article
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0.00
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article

Opaque Theism and Divine Testimony

Erik J. Wielenberg
TheoLogica An International Journal for Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Theology
Theology and Philosophy of Evil
article

Opaque Theism and Divine Testimony

Erik J. Wielenberg
article en

Abstract

A much-discussed objection to skeptical theism is that skeptical theism implies that divine testimony cannot provide us with knowledge. Here I argue that it is not skeptical theism that raises doubts about the trustworthiness of divine testimony; rather, the vast amount of inscrutable evil in our world together with God’s track record of deception is the source of the trouble. I draw on that insight to develop further my divine deception argument (Wielenberg 2014). The argument I will defend goes roughly like this: There is a lot of inscrutable evil in the world and the Christian God has a track record of being deceptive about future events. Therefore, divine testimony regarding future events is not a source of knowledge that such events will occur.

TheoLogica An International Journal for Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical TheologyVol. 9(1)
DePauw University (US)
Peace, Justice and strong institutions
Openalex Percentile: Top 67%
Theology and Philosophy of Evil
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