Hope for ultimate goodness within theism and euteleology
- Theists often argue that a theistic worldview is to be preferred over naturalist alternatives because hope for eschatological redemption and ultimate transformation of our lives towards the good is an integral part of theism. The argument is often presented in the form of an either-or juxtaposition: either theism and its eschatological hope for ultimate goodness, or naturalism with its bleak prospect that reality is at the very bottom only particles and the void. In this chapter, the author points out that this juxtaposition does not take into account a possible third alternative that has been discussed under the label non-personal or alternative concepts of the divine. The author explores the question to what extent the hope for ultimate goodness can be seen as justified within theism and also whether that hope can be reconstructed within the framework of an alternative concept of God, namely euteleology.
