Philosophical Reflections on the Existence and Presence of God Today

Abstract

In the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition, God is regarded as the creator, ruler, and redeemer of the world and of humanity. Almighty God suffers when His people suffer and ensures that those who worship Him and obey His commandments have their desires fulfilled. This representation of God, which comes to us from the depths of Judaism, was called into question in the most dramatic way by the Jewish Holocaust. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,—whom the Jews had worshiped since their exodus from Mesopotamia and their settlement in the land of Canaan, and who so often helped the Jews—appeared to stand aside during one of the most cruel moments in their history and in that of the civilized world: the time when they were being "industrially" exterminated. The study will review the concept of God's existence through the lens of various philosophical thoughts and monotheistic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—culminating in developments in thinking about God in modern culture.