Beyond Transcendence

Le résumé fourni par la source

The transcendent is often proposed as a suitable common ground for theists and atheists. However, on closer inspection, our conceptions of the transcendent highlight what divides the theist and the atheist more than what brings them together. This is most obvious when the theist takes it in an ontological sense. But when the transcendent is defined by theists without recourse to an ontological realm, none of the ways in which God is conceptualised remotely resonate with atheists. Furthermore, theists who do not conceive of the transcendent in straightforward supernatural terms are probably not representative of ordinary believers. Julian Baggini&s;s chapter argues that when theists and atheists talk about their shared experience of the transcendent, they are not so much talking about how they conceive of the object of their experience, but their attitudes towards it. There is a common ground here: in how we orient ourselves to the immanent world, the one that both parties agree exists and matters. If we do that, we can see how the immanent gives grounds for humility, awe and compassion that shape our existential attitudes and moral convictions.

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