Objections, Replies, and Further Refinements

Abstract

With the initial philosophical and theological case for the divine presence model in place, the author considers some objections, most of which the model can handle in the form introduced in the previous chapter, but one of which reveals the need for an additional component. First, the author considers the way that the divine presence model handles the biggest problems faced by its closest competitors, traditionalism and the choice model. He then turns to some challenges that are specific to the divine presence model’s way of understanding hell. In closing, he develops a variety of different hybrid views, which combine key elements of the divine presence model with other elements that are constitutive of one or more of the standard views. A number of such hybrid views are found in an inchoate form in the existing literature; the chapter briefly evaluates these, giving special attention to Talbott’s hybrid universalist model.