God? What God?

The Post-Socratic Sandbox

We talk about God all the time. Even atheists talk about the God that they don't believe in. But what do we have in mind when we talk this way? In this episode, I take an introductory look at two questions: First, what are some of the ways that people conceive of the nature of God? And second, does it matter much - even for the devout - how one actually conceives of God? I consider these questions from the perspective of Christian theology, atheism, and agnosticism, and also consider some empirical data derived from opinion polling.
Ever since my youth, I've had a fascination with these types of questions. This episode gets the ball rolling in a prefatory way, and there is much more that I want to try to address in subsequent installments: How much of religious belief, I wonder, consists only in comforting stories that we tell ourselves, and how much can be validated by our actual experience of the world. Of what value is circumstantial evidence in relation to our notions of the divine and are some types of circumstantial evidence more compelling than others? Should we acknowledge the religious impulse within ourselves, and if we do how do we shield it from pernicious influences that might range from televangelist hucksters to our own wooly-minded wishful thinking? Can I know God, can I look into the face of God, or is it foolish or even impertinent to make those kinds of queries? Does the fact of our faculty of reason dictate that we must always remain within the boundaries of rational thought, or can we acknowledge that there are aspects of the world that lie beyond our zone of rational understanding? If the latter, should we try to explore such matters, and if so, what tools do we have for such exploration?

Music attribution:

Sunset Drive by Tokyo Music Walker | https://soundcloud.com/user-356546060
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