The N.A., as Peirce somewhat affectionately called it, consists of a “nest of three arguments for the Reality of God.” The first arises from “Musement” and is perhaps best described in terms of the psychology of discovery. Yet musement “inevitably” leads to “the hypothesis of God’s Reality.” Thus this, the “Humble Argument,” then gives way to the N.A. proper, which is in part reminiscent of the traditional argument from design. Also every human heart “will be ravished by the beauty and (...) adorability of the Idea” of God’s reality, by the notion of an Ens necessarium. Indeed, “a latent tendency toward belief in God is a fundamental ingredient of the soul.”. (shrink)

In several great religions God is thought of as an agent or active individual exalted in principle above other agents, the supreme creative and controlling power. But, however exalted, the deity is still, in spite of what Tillich and others say, an individual being, somehow analogous to a human person. Indeed, man is said to be created in the divine image. Without this analogy religion loses an essential trait. Not only in faiths derived from Judaism, but also in Zoroastrianism, and (...) even in much Hinduism and some Buddhism, the analogy plays a central role. (shrink)

In several great religions God is thought of as an agent or active individual exalted in principle above other agents, the supreme creative and controlling power. But, however exalted, the deity is still, in spite of what Tillich and others say, an individual being, somehow analogous to a human person. Indeed, man is said to be created in the divine image. Without this analogy religion loses an essential trait. Not only in faiths derived from Judaism, but also in Zoroastrianism, and (...) even in much Hinduism and some Buddhism, the analogy plays a central role. (shrink)