What would Antony Flew say to Kierkegaard and James?

Question

How would Antony Flew's ideas about God be similar or different from Kierkegaard's and William James's.......The more details the better...thanks!

Answer 1

Kierkegaard, James, and Flew have a similar idea regarding God:  for K, distance; for J, ambiguity; and for F, inactive.

All three are somewhat Old Testament in the sense of distance, although F resists the OT most of the three, with James finding psychic activity being perhaps "signs and wonders."

F simply states the obvious:  there is no compelling evidence for "natural, spontaneous" formation of life, and there are intimations of order.

This is a quasi-marxian stance, i.e., that Matter evolves life, but F believes a God is a likely source of matter, and order assisting various life-stages.

K would position himself as authentic, recognizing the need for personal relationship, almost an "I-Thou" a la Buber.  F is most objective or impersonal of the three, J in middle with his "unfinished" or "process philosophizing" a la Whitehead.

K has a sense of personal or inner childlike authenticity, to which the human can attain:  his "Spiritual" or "Religious" sphere, a dimension accessed per the "Aesthetic" or "now"ness and "Ethic" or "reflective" spheres.  In this sense, he is a kinder, gentler Nietzsche, both moving toward types of Self/self-actualization a la Maslow.

"A Philosophy of Universality," Aivanhov, and

"The Path of the Higher Self," Mark Prophet, are worthwhile.

J would likely appreciate very much the work of Tiller, "Psychoenergetic Science," http://www.tiller.org

"The Master of Lucid Dreams," Dr. Olga Kharitidi,

"Life before Life," Jim Tucker, M.D.,

"Babies Remember Birth," David Chamberlain, Ph.D.,

http://www.sheldrake.org

http://www.divinecosmos.com

http://www.carolbowman.com

http://noosphere.princeton.edu

http://www.heartmath.org

http://www.noetic.org

http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~bdj10 and the like.