Philosophy And The Divine: God In Western Thought

God plays an important and fundamental role in many people’s lives. But what sort of role has God played in philosophy? How have philosophers understood notions of God and how have they used notions of God to make sense of the world and of ourselves? And why do so many philosophers today have no role for God in their understanding of the world? In this course, we will take a brief look at different perspectives on God through the ages, starting with Ancient Greece, through to the Medieval scholastic period, Enlightenment rationalism and empiricism, post-Enlightenment existentialism and today’s naturalist worldview. This course offers a fascinating journey through Western philosophical thought as well as clarifying and provoking ideas about God, ourselves and our world.