God and the Philosopher

Philosophers through the ages have been fascinated by the idea of God. Equally, ideas about God have often been shaped, re-shaped and challenged by philosophers through the ages, and Christian theology would be very, very different without this influence. This course explores how a number of influential philosophers have thought about God, through a close examination of some of their key writings: from the careful system developed by Thomas Aquinas, to the fierce atheism of Friedrich Nietzsche, and beyond.  

Philosophy has been entwined with religious thought in lots of interesting ways over the centuries. Philosophers have asked whether we can establish the existence of God through rational argument, and disagreed endlessly on the answer. But philosophers have also wondered whether philosophical thinking might itself be a form of religious contemplation – the business of turning one's attention away from the 'things that pass' onto what is genuinely lasting and meaningful. In this course we will start with the question 'what do we mean when we say "God"?' What, or who, determines what we mean, and what we should mean, when we use this word? For example, many philosophers have taken 'simplicity' or 'eternity' to be essential to understanding what 'God' means. But why is this – and what connection does it have to the God that most religious believers take themselves to believe in? Or, many people have thought that we must say that God is 'omnipotent'. But what does it really mean to say that God is all-powerful; what does this entail?  

Participants can expect to wrestle with questions like these, and more, whilst exploring some difficult philosophical material so as to get a better understanding of how philosophy works (or doesn't!), and why it matters (or doesn't!).  

In the process, we hope to gain deeper, clearer sense of what it might mean to try to think about God.  

‍