African Philosophy of Religion Scholarly Lecture Series: Emmanuel Ofuasia

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Aribiah Attoe

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An African Philosophy of Religion Scholarly Lecture Series

Topic: The explanatory powers of divine silence and divine hiddenness in African spirituality

Emmanuel Ofuasia (Decoloniality Research Group, Department of Philosophy,

University of Pretoria, South Africa)

Wednesday, February 25^th, 2026

12.30 – 13.30 GMT

ZOOM Link: https://bh a m -a c -uk.zoom.us/j/862208281 9 3

Abstract

Both the problems of divine silence and hiddenness are arguments employed by philosophers who are familiar with the Anselmian conception of divinity in mainstream Anglo-American philosophy of religion to validate non-belief concerning divinity. Divine silence holds that God has decided to not reveal God’s purpose for humankind, if God exists. This means that humans were not created for a purpose. In essence, humans are not a means to an end in the agenda of God, because if they were, God would unveil God’s purpose for humanity. This lack constitutes grounds to deny God’s existence. Similarly, the problem of divine hiddenness is another tool employed by atheists by contending that if God exists, God would make Its existence obvious to humans. As an aftermath of this, non-belief in God would not exist. But God has not made Its existence obvious to humans. Therefore, God does not exist, based on this inference. Thinking about African spirituality in the light of these challenges for mainstream and dominant Anglo-American philosophy of religion reveals that though African spirituality admits divine silence and hiddenness, the admission does not serve as grounds for disbelief in divinity, but the reinforcement of ritual practices and doctrines. The natures of God in Yorùbá and Shona spiritualities are invited as paradigms.

Keywords: African spirituality, Divine hiddenness, Divine Silence, Shona, Yorùbá

Next Talk

March 2026 – Michael Omoge. TBC.

Aribiah David Attoe, PhD

ORCID No.: 0000-0001-9786-1824

Department of Philosophy

University of Witwatersrand, South Africa

Member, The Conversational School of Philosophy, Calabar, Nigeria

Co-author: New Conversations on the Problem of Identity, Consciousness and Mind (Springer, 2019)

Guest Editor: "Special Issue on African Conceptions of the Meaning of Life", South African Journal of Philosophy (2020)

Author: Groundwork for a New Kind of African Metaphysics: The Idea of Predeterministic Historicity (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022)
Co-recipient: John Templeton Fund, via the Global Philosophy of Religion Project Grant, University of Birmingham.

IEP Entry: https://iep.utm.edu/afr-mean/

Co-Guest Editor: Special Issue on "Shifting Perspectives on Contemporary African Philosophy of Religion", Religious Studies (2022).

Co-Guest Editor: Special Issue on "African Perspectives on God, the Problem of Evil and Meaning in Life", Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religion (2022).

Editor: African Perspectives on the Question of Life's Meaning (Routledge, 2023)
Co-editor: Conversations on African Philosophy of Mind, Consciousness and Artificial Intelligence (Springer)