How African conceptions of God bear on life’s meaning

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dc.contributor.author Metz, Thaddeus
dc.date.accessioned 2024-07-12T12:56:21Z
dc.date.available 2024-07-12T12:56:21Z
dc.date.issued 2023-06
dc.description.abstract Up to now, a very large majority of work in the religious philosophy of life’s meaning has presumed a conception of God that is Abrahamic. In contrast, in this article I critically discuss some of the desirable and undesirable facets of Traditional African Religion’s salient conceptions of God as they bear on meaning in life. Given an interest in a maximally meaningful life, and supposing meaning would come from fulfilling God’s purpose for us, would it be reasonable to prefer God as characteristically conceived by African philosophers of religion to exist instead of the Abrahamic conception of God? At this stage of enquiry, I answer that, in respect of the range of people to whom God’s purpose would apply, a more African view of God would plausibly offer a greater meaning, but that, concerning what the content of God’s purpose would be, the Abrahamic view appears to offer a greater one. I conclude by reflecting on this mixed verdict and by suggesting respects in which non-purposive facets of the African and Abrahamic conceptions of God could also have implications for life’s meaning. en_US
dc.description.department Philosophy en_US
dc.description.sdg None en_US
dc.description.sponsorship The John Templeton Foundation and the Global Philosophy of Religion Project at the University of Birmingham. en_US
dc.description.uri http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=RES en_US
dc.identifier.citation Metz T. How African conceptions of God bear on life’s meaning. Religious Studies. 2023; 59(2): 340-354. doi:10.1017/S0034412522000488. en_US
dc.identifier.issn 0034-4125 (print)
dc.identifier.issn 1469-901X (online)
dc.identifier.other 10.1017/S0034412522000488
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/2263/96991
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher Cambridge University Press en_US
dc.rights © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence. en_US
dc.subject Axiology of theism en_US
dc.subject God’s purpose en_US
dc.subject Meaning of life en_US
dc.subject Pro-theism en_US
dc.subject Traditional African religion en_US
dc.title How African conceptions of God bear on life’s meaning en_US
dc.type Article en_US


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