Does God Exist? An Answer for Today by Hans Küng

Does God Exist? An Answer for Today Reviews

• 
  Gregory

  This book was not an easy read, but I found it very engaging. Rather than "Does God Exist? An Answer for Today" the book could easily be titled "Who is God?" It's focus is not so much apologetic but a historical and philosophical analysis of how we think about God, beginning with the Enlightenment and working through to the present time. Küng is to be commended for treating the critiques of Nietzsche, Feurbach, Freud and Marx with seriousness and respect, and not merely as critics to be dispensed with as quickly as possible. Indeed,his analysis of nihilism (as he calls it) and the writings of the existentialists Sartre and Camus plays a crucial role in the development later on. Also refreshing was the treatment of Eastern religions, notably Confucianism and Buddhism, which I found remarkably insightful if a bit dated.
  
  The scale of the book is imposing, and the author's historical approach makes it difficult at first to follow his arguments, but the logic becomes clear as the book progresses. Küng is a Roman Catholic theologian, but he goes to pains to make the book relevant to both Catholic and Protestant readers. Still, it seems to me that not having some basic familiarity with both traditions could prove an obstacle. Finally, it should be noted that this book is meant to complement the author's "On Being A Christian" but can certainly be read independently.
• 
  Evan

  The Jesuit institution of higher learning from which I graduated required a certain number of theology courses. So a good father laid this bulky tome onto us, and yes, I read the whole thing. Kung tirelessly and tiresomely goes through all the arguments in favor of the existence of God and when it comes time for him to bring it all home and hit the big home run guess what? It's all just a matter of faith after all. Wow. Of its type, I can't fault it as a theology classic, but it will only persuade those already converted. -EG
• 
  нєνєℓ ¢ανα

  This quite interesting book addresses two main and fundamental questions on theology and on philosophy alike: Does God exist? and Who is God? Its intended readership is also twofold: those who are ''doubtful about their belief'' and those who are ''doubtful about their doubting.'' Thus, not all theists will like this book, and not all atheists will want to reject it out of hand. A compelling as well as daunting exercise of reflection...
  
  Reading it, one discovers that this book is a labor of love. It reveals itself as a deep work at once conservative in its faith and substantive in its scholarship. The famous father Hans Küng argues for the existence of God and debate about his true nature as being, but in a manner that undermines at the same time biblical and dogmatic fundamentalisms... a real adventure!
• 
  Christopher

  Absolutely one of my favorite books of all time.
  
  "Serious theology does not claim any elitist, privileged access to truth: It cannot in any case be meant to be intelligible only to believers [...]
  
  Serious theology does not claim any complete, total possession of the truth, nor any monopoly of truth: It cannot in any case be a comprehensive ideological system, worked out to the last detail, which would ultimately render superfluous any further reflections on the part of sociologists, psychologists, economists, jurists, medical experts, scientists
  
  [...] we cannot neglect consideration of critical arguments by appealing to some authority within the system, we cannot evade the competition of ideas, suppress temptations to doubt, exclude possibilities on the part of certain persons or in certain situations."
• 
  Bruno

  This is a really interesting book… it took me a lot longer than I expected, and that is a good thing.
  
  First, this book is from 1978, which gave a nice window into the past. Some thinkers (like Hegel, Marx) are less popular now, but that doesn’t diminish the value of the discussion. Lamenting about people lost in “modern times” and turning away from God seem, on the other, to be from all times.
  
  I especially liked the really thorough discussion and approach on engaging with philosophy. About 2/3 of the book is a deep dive from Descartes to modern thoughts about God from Einstein. It is a really deep approach, engaging fully with the arguments. This part could even be considered an introduction into philosophy of religion. There is no upfront agenda when treating these thinkers, including ardent atheists. Arguments are followed through, criticisms and even countercriticisms are formulated.
  A minus however is that atheists are considered to have become atheists because of “something” in their personal history. That may be true, but then the same argument should then be investigated for religious persons, too, just to be honest.
  
  Then there is an important step into the proving of the existence of God, by argument a fundamental trust (Grundvertrauen) in the “I”, “the world” (science) and “ethics”. It is a well thought argument, and I would be inclined to follow it. However, and that is a bit of a strawman and false dichotomy, it is positioned against nihilism. That seems a bit too fast, as other approaches to reality and the self and ethical behavior like humanism could also profit from this fundamental trust, without going further into the existence of God.
  I do however like the argumentation that to have human worth (and therefore a just society), one needs to engage in trust in the self and world. This is a critical argument against relativism, even though current science has brought additional input on conscience and passage of time.
  
  The final part, to be expected, is the proving of God’s existence. Kuhn’s approach is very honest NOMA (no overlapping magisterial), meaning that there is no rational-only proof of God, but also, and very interestingly, there is no “just believe it” without rational input and engaging with the philosophical arguments as outlined. Even though the domains of ratio and belief are separate, both are equal and need to be respected.
  In the end, Kuhn even indicates the valid belief in the Christian God, engaging also in arguments about the Trinity and with respect of (then current) knowledge within exegesis of the Bible. The result, to me, is a bit of a wishy-washy God, which certainly is more interesting than a fundamentalist or literalist belief, but insufficiently indicates why this is different from other religions or humanism (even though Kuhn engages this topic too). Maybe, in another time, this would have fully convinced me, but now it left me hanging a bit. Especially given his criticisms of the Church (nothing new there) and in light of his interdiction to teach that came hardly a year later.
  
  In any case, this book, because of the sheer breadth of the argumentation and honest intellectual discussion, is worth the read. Even if you disagree with the conclusion, you come away with a lot of interesting and engaging arguments. I recommend this book.
  
• 
  Jc

  Another one of Küng’s “weighty tomes,” this one being a 1980 follow-up to his 1974 “On Being A Christian.” On Being, which I first read in the late ‘70s was actually one of the two books that initiated (much to the would-be disappointment of Küng if he knew) my regress (to borrow C.S. Lewis’s term) into atheism (the other was Brothers Karamazov). I do admire Küng as a thinker, but also vehemently disagree with most of his conclusions. All that is lead up to me saying that this work is not among his best, and certainly does not compare well with On Being. On Being made me think, made me question (and still did after my 3rd read through of it). This one? Well, Hans K. DOES do a very good job here at laying out how philosophy and theology (mostly limited here to their Western/christian forms) has evolved over the history of the church (that is, he mostly concentrates on how they affected Roman Catholicism, though some discussion of other forms of christianity do enter the discussion). So, Does God has lots to offer in the way of a dense, introductory text into the history of [mostly] Western thought. But, when it comes to his main thesis, that is, dealing with the question as to whether “God Exists,” he mostly just spends 700 pages repeatedly saying Yes, God Exists (even says that verbatim on the back cover!) dismissing those who disagree with him as not really considering the question or the OBVIOUS answer (he basically never addresses the question). So, A+ as an overview of Western Thought, D- as a open discussion regarding the existence of a deity (let alone "the" deity). I still enjoy reading and arguing with Küng, but this one I could have skipped. (Also, unlike On Being, this one needed some serious editing, I don't know if that problem is due to the translation or is in the original German edition as well)
• 
  فلاح رحيم

  Astonishing representation of the main Western philosophers since Descartes. Unique in clarity and fairness to each one of them weather believer or atheist. His answer to the question of the title is "yes" but his openness and respect to philosophy as a major human endeavor make his book a pleasure to read whatever your own answer to the question is. Strongly recommended.
• 
  Natalie Baer

  Difficult, did not finish, will someday
• 
  Ayre Loam

  
  Does God Exist? An Answer for Today
• 
  Michel Van Goethem

  Hans Küng