Kierkegaard, divine hiddenness, and the good life

This dissertation uses Søren Kierkegaard's later works in order to establish a connection between two philosophical problems that hitherto have been treated separately. These are the problems of divine hiddenness and the good life. It is argued that Kierkegaard provides us with the best available response to divine hiddenness and that this response has a direct bearing on the good life. Stated more broadly, we demonstrate how this issue in the philosophy of religion contributes to our understanding of ethics and how to live well.;The key to understanding divine hiddenness is Kierkegaard's religious epistemology. According to Kierkegaard, the human will is involved in both preventing and attaining knowledge of God. This dissertation identifies four impediments that prevent many people from apprehending evidence of God. Moreover, many passages are brought forward to reveal that, according to Kierkegaard, subjective knowledge of God is available through a life of faith. Divine hiddenness, then, may not always result from a deity who actively bides but rather from human beings who have blinded themselves to evidence for God's existence. In addition to reconstructing Kierkegaard's religious epistemology, we also review the three most prominent responses to divine hiddenness as proposed by J.L. Schellenberg, Robert McKim, and Paul K. Moser. In each case, we conclude that Kierkegaard's response is superior and therefore is the best available response to divine hiddenness.;Kierkegaard's thoughts on religious knowledge, however, are never divorced from a life of love expressing itself to others. It is argued that his response to divine hiddenness is crucial for understanding the good life. This dissertation assesses two forms of hidden human love that Kierkegaard advocates. We conclude that one's love for one's neighbor may unfortunately remain hidden due to the same volitional and attitudinal factors that render God hidden from many individuals. Therefore, just as there is a justifiable hiddenness on God's part in relation to human beings, so also the good life is characterized by love and yet includes a kind of hiddenness in interpersonal relationships.