Rethinking the Existence of God

The life of the mind offers a resource for discovering the basic categories of the cosmos. This is a distinctive impetus shared by the Christian heritage, especially from Jesus, Augustine, and Anselm, and the modern critical turn to the subject, especially Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, and Bergson. The problem is to find accounts of God and metaphysics which fully realize this divergent impetus. Spirituality, articulated here as orienting attention, concern, and trust, enables a more substantial account of being than space, time, causation, essences, and identities. For a living mind to have substance means that thoughts matter, are sincere, and are trustworthy. This vision changes the significance of modern critiques of metaphysics. Kant's project becomes one of grounding in intrinsic reasons, rather than proposing limits, and so is an heir to Plato and Anselm. Nietzsche's project becomes one of endowing things with meaning and substance, rather than a revaluation of all values. Bergson's project becomes one of orientation in accordance with the creative unfolding of time. To be reasonable is to ground, transvalue, and orient^—^ to think is to act, to participate in creation, judgement, and redemption. This renewal of metaphysics after the critical turn raises a vital problem: what becomes of the existence of God? God is restored as the focal point of reference for a renewed metaphysics after the critical turn. After this turn to spirituality, the nature of God itself becomes more fully expressible and thinkable. This radical and profound project has the potential to set agendas for generations to come.

Philip Goodchild is Professor of Religion and Philosophy at the University of Nottingham, where he teaches both Philosophy and Theology. His principal research interests include modern French philosophy, especially Henri Bergson, Simone Weil, and Gilles Deleuze, continental philosophy of religion, the philosophy of political economy, and religious metaphysics as a resource for transformation in contemporary life.