How African conceptions of God bear on life’s meaning

dc.contributor.authorMetz, Thaddeus
dc.contributor.emailth.metz@up.ac.zaen_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-07-12T12:56:21Z
dc.date.available2024-07-12T12:56:21Z
dc.date.issued2023-06
dc.description.abstractUp 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.departmentPhilosophyen_US
dc.description.sdgNoneen_US
dc.description.sponsorshipThe John Templeton Foundation and the Global Philosophy of Religion Project at the University of Birmingham.en_US
dc.description.urihttp://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=RESen_US
dc.identifier.citationMetz 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.issn0034-4125 (print)
dc.identifier.issn1469-901X (online)
dc.identifier.other10.1017/S0034412522000488
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/96991
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherCambridge University Pressen_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.subjectAxiology of theismen_US
dc.subjectGod’s purposeen_US
dc.subjectMeaning of lifeen_US
dc.subjectPro-theismen_US
dc.subjectTraditional African religionen_US
dc.titleHow African conceptions of God bear on life’s meaningen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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