The God who Seeks but Seems to Hide

by F. Jonback

Book cover: The God who Seeks but Seems to Hide

Extent: 135 pages

Publisher: Peeters Publishers

Subjects: Philosophy, Religious Studies

Series: Studies in Philosophical Theology

Series volume number: 63

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(May 2017)

ISBN: 9789042934931

Price: $52.00

In stock

In this study, Francis Jonback defends the view that it would not be surprising if divine hiding were necessary to realize greater goods or to avoid worse evils that are beyond our ken, in which case one is not justified in saying that divine hiding renders it improbable that God exists. He goes on to argue that it is difficult to explain why God hides and that – although believers do not have a probabilistic problem with believing in a God who seems to hide there might be an existential or practical problem, in particular for non-believers, when seeking a God who seems to hide.


Assuming that there is an all-powerful, all-knowing, perfectly good God who seeks a loving relationship with all humans, it is puzzling that certain people experience that God seems to hide. It is often argued that this fact of ‘divine hiding’ renders it improbable that God exists. In this study, Francis Jonback defends the view that it would not be surprising if divine hiding were necessary to realise greater goods or to avoid worse evils that are beyond our ken, in which case one is not justified in saying that divine hiding renders it improbable that God exists. He goes on to argue that it is difficult to explain why God hides and that – although believers do not have a probabilistic problem with believing in a God who seems to hide there might be an existential or practical problem, in particular for non-believers, when seeking a God who seems to hide.

  • By (author) F Jonback