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Document Details :

Title: Ignace Verhacks intellectuele verantwoording van het godsgeloof
Subtitle: Kritische studie van Wat bedoelen wij wanneer wij 'God' zeggen?
Author(s): WOLFS, Torben
Journal: Tijdschrift voor Filosofie
Volume: 74    Issue: 4   Date: 2012   
Pages: 765-783
DOI: 10.2143/TVF.74.4.2965140

Abstract :
In this article I make a critical analysis of Verhack’s new book Wat bedoelen wij wanneer wij ‘God’ zeggen? (What Do we Mean When we Say ‘God’?). Given the conclusion that in our contemporary, secularized culture the word ‘God’ has lost its meaning, the aim of this book is to hand us new elements to speak meaningfully about God. Leaving behind the God of theism in the first part of the book, in the remaining two parts Verhack argues that only on the basis of an authentic understanding of ourselves and of being can the word God receive a new and true meaning. After elaborating Verhack’s argument, I discuss what seems to me to be the problematic nature of it. I try to show that, although belief in God is not irreconcilable with Verhack’s understanding of being, neither is unbelief. As a consequence it remains unclear why belief is not arbitrary. If Verhack would answer to this objection by claiming that belief in God does more justice to our understanding of being, this answer would only be valid if this belief is already at the basis of our understanding.

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