The Skepticism of Skeptical Theism

Abstract

Edward Wierenga* Skeptical theism is a type of reply to arguments from evil against God's existence. The skeptical theist declines to accept a premise of some such argument, professing ignorance, for example, about whether God is justified in permitting certain evils or about the conditional probability that the world contains as much evil as it does, or evils of a particular sort, on the hypothesis that God exists. Skeptical theists are thus not supposed to be skeptical about theism; rather, they are theists who are skeptical about something else. But that raises the question of exactly what else. In particular, does skepticism with respect to some claims about God and evil lead to a more pervasive skepticism? More precisely, is skeptical theism committed to additional skepticism about God? Is skeptical theism committed to global skepticism, including skepticism about ordinary, commonplace beliefs? Or is skeptical theism at the very least committed to a broader skepticism about matters of morality? This paper takes up these questions. * Ph.D. in Philosophy, Professor of Religion and of Philosophy Emeritus, University of Rochester, NY, USA, Email: edward. ׀ wierenga@rochester.edu 🞕 Wierenga, E. (2019). The Skepticism of Skeptical Theism. The Journal of Philosophical-Theological Research, 21(81), pp. 27۔ 42. doi: 10.22091/jptr.2019.4608.2171.