Is God Dead?

In April 1966, Time magazine asked on its front cover: Is God Dead? Is this question as relevant as it was then? As in the sixties of last century, we find ourselves in a world plagued by violence and injustice, and scenarios of the future often paint a bleak picture. Yet almost one hundred and fifty years after Nietzsche famously stated that God is dead, God is actually still very much alive to a great many people. What does this ongoing belief in God say about our so-called ‘secular modernity’?

In this edition of Let’s Ask, Gideon Baker will take Nietzsche’s statement as his starting point, tracing its philosophical, political and theological implications.

Gideon Baker is an Associate Professor in the School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University, Australia. His research engages with debates in political theology, specifically the question of nihilism, messianic political thought and, more recently, philosophical atheism and the death of God.

In Let's Ask, researchers share their knowledge to provide context to topical issues and will answer your questions.