Divine hiddenness

Divine hiddenness is the apparent absence or concealment of God despite the possibility of divine existence. It raises the question of why a God who wants relationship with people might remain difficult to know.

Argument from divine hiddenness: An argument that nonresistant nonbelief is evidence against a perfectly loving God. It turns apparent divine absence into a formal challenge to theism.
Problem of evil: The challenge of reconciling the existence of evil and suffering with an all-powerful, all-knowing, perfectly good God. It shares the question of how divine goodness fits an apparently troubling world.
Free will defense: A defense claiming that God permits evil because significant creaturely freedom is valuable. It explains some divine nonintervention, but does not by itself explain why God remains unknown.
J. L. Schellenberg: A Canadian philosopher known for formulating the contemporary argument from divine hiddenness. His work made nonresistant nonbelief central to the modern debate.
Nonresistant nonbelief: Lack of belief in God without a deliberate refusal to believe or resistance to relationship with God. Its existence is central to the hiddenness argument's case against a loving God.
Evidential problem of evil: An argument that the amount or kinds of suffering make God's existence less probable. It provides a model for treating an observed absence as probabilistic evidence.
Soul-making theodicy: A theodicy that treats hardship as a condition for developing virtues and spiritual maturity. It suggests that uncertainty about God may contribute to moral or spiritual growth.
Divine Hiddenness and Human Reason: J. L. Schellenberg's 1993 book developing an argument from divine hiddenness against theism. It presents the influential formulation that shaped subsequent discussion.
Perfect love: A moral ideal of love that seeks relationship and the good of others without qualification. The argument asks whether perfect love would permit sincere people to remain unaware of God.
Belief: A mental attitude of accepting a proposition as true. The argument depends on what it means for someone genuinely not to believe in God.

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