Brooke Alan Trisel: God’s Silence as an Epistemological Concern
No abstract of the argument is available, but I did find a summary of the main argument.
(1) If humankind was created for a purpose by God and had a role to play in carrying out this
purpose, then God would want us to have a possibility of achieving our role so that he would
have a possibility of achieving his goal.
(2) For us to have a possibility of achieving the purpose for which we were created, we would need
to understand our role in carrying out this purpose.
(3) The purpose for which humanity was created is unclear in the Bible and elsewhere.
(4) Despite the lack of clarity regarding the purpose of life, God has not provided any
clarification about his purpose or our role.
(5) God would not have chosen to remain silent about our role in carrying out his purpose
because, following from the first premise, this would be self-defeating.
(6) Therefore, humankind was not given a role to play in carrying out a purpose of God.
purpose, then God would want us to have a possibility of achieving our role so that he would
have a possibility of achieving his goal.
(2) For us to have a possibility of achieving the purpose for which we were created, we would need
to understand our role in carrying out this purpose.
(3) The purpose for which humanity was created is unclear in the Bible and elsewhere.
(4) Despite the lack of clarity regarding the purpose of life, God has not provided any
clarification about his purpose or our role.
(5) God would not have chosen to remain silent about our role in carrying out his purpose
because, following from the first premise, this would be self-defeating.
(6) Therefore, humankind was not given a role to play in carrying out a purpose of God.
From the article’s conclusion:
Christians believe that God created humanity as a means to fulfilling a purpose. However, as I have attempted to demonstrate, God’s continuing silence about his purpose and our role is evidence that we were not created by God to fulfill a purpose. God, if he exists, would have provided us with feedback by now if he had created humanity as a means to fulfilling an end.
Links:
Publication Version (behind a pay wall)
Pre-Publication Version (free)
Citation:
Trisel, B. A. (2012), God’s Silence as an Epistemological Concern. The Philosophical Forum, 43: 383–393. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9191.2012.00433.x