God and meaning: new essays

Over the past decade, there has been a growing interest among analytic philosophers in the topic of life's meaning. What is striking about this surge of work is that nearly all of it is by naturalists theorizing from non-theistic starting points. This book answers the need for a theistic philosophical perspective on the meaning of life. Bringing together some of the leading thinkers in analytic philosophy of religion and theology, God and Meaning touches on important issues in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, philosophy of religion, and biblical theology that intersect with life's meaning. In particular: What does the question "What is the meaning of life?" mean? How can we know if life has meaning and what that meaning is? Might God enhance life's meaningfulness in some ways but detract from it in others? Is the most meaningful life one of perfect happiness? What is the relationship between eternity and life's meaning? How does the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes illumine the topic? Should we hope that a kind of transcendent meaning exists? Presenting a state-of-the-art assessment of current philosophical positions on these and many other questions, God and Meaning is an invaluable resource for all students and scholars of the philosophy of religion

Cover; Half Title; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Chapter precís; Part One Clarifying the Question: Conceptual and Theistic Tools; 1 The Meaning of Life and Scripture's Redemptive-. Historical Narrative: Illuminating Convergences; 1. Introduction; 2. The meaning of life as narrative; 2.1 The narrative interpretation: An analogy; 2.2 Nuancing the narrative interpretation; 2.2.1 Meaning of life narratives: The formal condition; 2.2.2 Meaning of life narratives: The truth condition

3. Scripture's redemptive-historical narrative as a candidate meaning of life narrative3.1 Scripture and narrative; 3.2 The redemptive-historical narrative: Ultimate causal origins; 3.3 The redemptive-historical narrative: Purpose; 3.4 The redemptive-historical narrative: Evil, pain, and suffering; 3.5 The redemptive-historical narrative: Eschatology and narrative ending; 4. Postscript: The redemptive-historical narrative as the meaning of life; Part Two Meaningfulness and God; 2 What God Could (and Couldn't) Do to Make Life Meaningful; 3 Hedonistic Happiness and Life's Meaning

1. Introduction2. Pleasure and naturalism; 3. Hedonic happiness and its critics; 4. Addi…