The God of Religion and the God of Philosophy

PHILOSOPHY Ever since the time of Pascal men have feared that the 'God' worshipped by believers and the 'God' contemplated by philosophers were somehow different. The former was personal, historically active, slow to anger and plentiful in mercy: the latter was dubiously able to be described in personal terms at all, and infinite in such a way as to baffle the imagination. The 'God' of the former at least had the advantage of complying with what was alleged to be religious experience: and so it was not surprising that religious men feared that the 'God' of philosophy threatened that experience itself; whereas at times philosophers have fed such suspicions by denying to God various properties not on logical grounds but because close involvement with man seemed to them not to comport with the divine dignity. Before tackling the question of the relation of the different beliefs involved, I must locate the problem. At least this much is clear: the problem concerns two concepts, not two Gods. It might be thought that the only way to make progress is to discuss God himself, rather than human notions: ultimately we are interested in what answers to our notions, and not just in the notions themselves. But we cannot assume that there is something answering to every notion, nor that even when there is, there are as many things as notions. In the present case no one is suggesting that there are two Gods; indeed this is impossible on either view, since there cannot be more than one omni potent agent. The 'Gods' of religion and of philosophy are therefore ideas, though ideas which may themselves have an application. They are different accounts of what it is to be God, accounts which allow us to have some idea what we are asking when we ask if God exists or what we are confessing when we declare belief in God. Neither among religious men nor among philosophers is there agreement as to the nature of God. But on the side of religion, the Judaeo-Christian tradition at least supplies some common ground between what individual Jews and Christians have at various times believed. On the other hand there is much less agreement among philosophers. A large number of practising philosophers in Britain today are atheists or agnostics: and, although to be an atheist or an agnostic one needs a notion of God to deny or …