LAS1106 - Belief in God: Exploring its Relevance Today

MQF Level

Duration and Credits

Semester 2

4 ECTS

Mode of Study

Part-Time Evening

“I still haven’t found what I’m looking for”, sang Bono in the 1980’s.

At times we’ve all had the feeling that, even though we have experienced success, pleasure, and happiness – something, somehow, remains missing. Is this restlessness that we feel, but cannot quite articulate, universal? Some see this restlessness as an ‘anomalous’ reality. Some go as far as attaching to it the adjective ‘god-hole’ – a space that is presumably reserved for the transcendent and that can only be fully satisfied by “transcendence”. But what would God – the transcendent – mean in this context? And what does it mean when we say that one has “a desire for God”? In what way/s is this kind of desire expressed? And is the propensity of such a desire natural (i.e. innate and universal to all humans) or is it subjective and primarily rooted in certain relative criteria (i.e. such as the environment, culture, character, etc.)?

The aim of this Unit is to critically explore certain desires which we, as human beings, are persistently faced by, as well as some of the implications that follow from them. Such realities range from, 1. the burden of human suffering, imperfection, and finitude, 2. the archetypical desire that humans have for “the symbolic” (i.e. for “religion” and “myth”), and 3., the pedagogical capacity of desire to act both as a guide to self-flouring and also as a guide to discovering the divine.

Main Reading List

The Apologetics of Joy: A Case for the Existence of God from C.S. Lewis's Argument from Desire, Joe Puckett (James Clarke & Co Ltd, United Kingdom, 2012).
Immortal Longings, Fergus Kerr, (Notre Dame, Ind, University of Notre Dame Press, 1997).
Grenz, Stanley J. The Social God and the Relational Self: A Trinitarian Theology of the Imago Dei. London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001.
Simmons, J. Aaron. “God in Recent French Phenomenology.” Philosophy
Compass 3, no. 5 (2008): 910–932. doi: 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2008.00171.

Supplementary Reading List

Considering Transcendence: Elements of a Philosophical Theology, Martin J. De Nys. (Indiana University Press, Bloomington).
Masterson, Patrick. Approaching God. London: Bloomsbury, 2013.
Gilson, Étienne. God and Philosophy. London: Yale University Press, 2002.

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Learning Outcomes: Knowledge and Understanding

By the end of the Unit the student will be able to provide a more holistic and insightful response to the questions:

Can we say that there is a desire for God within us?
Is the desire for God similar to an “emotion”, or is it different of a different kind?
Is desire for God natural (i.e. innate and universal to all humans) or is it subjective and primarily rooted in certain relative criteria (i.e. environment, culture, character, etc.)?
What kind of desires can be classified as being, in some way or form, a desire for God?
How is desire for God related, if at all, to self-flourishing? Are there degrees to desiring God? If so, what are they?
Is there a relationship between human wretchedness (i.e. our suffering, imperfection, finitude etc.) and desire for God?
What does our desire for Symbols and for Myth say about our self?
How can our desires be a source of guidance to us?
Does it still make sense to believe in God today?
What does ‘believing in God’ mean?

Learning Outcomes: Skills

By the end of the Unit the student will be able to:

Answer more critically the question of how desire for God, if at all, is expressed within the human being.
Analyse ‘belief’ in God in a more holistic manner; taking into consideration our emotions, desires, finitude, and self-flourishing.

Non EU Applicants:

EUR180

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