The Existence of God

This book explores two questions that are integral to the question of the existence of God. The first question concerns the meaning of existence and the second concerns the meaning of God. Regarding the first question, this book motivates, presents and defends the meta-ontology found in Gottlob Freges writings and defended by Michael Dummett, Crispin Wright and Bob Hale. Freges approach to questions of existence has mainly found use in connection with abstract objects such as numbers. This is one of the first studies to systematically present Fregean meta-ontology and apply it to theology. Freges meta-ontology is informed by his context principle. According to this, logico-syntactic notions such as singular term and predicate are pivotal to questions of what exists. These notions serve to throw light on the second question. Through thorough engagement with Old as well and New Testament texts, the book shows how Freges logico-syntactic notions are of crucial importance when seeking to understand the meaning and use of God. To complete the defence of Fregean meta-ontology, the book concludes by pointing to important differences between the otherwise closely associated concepts of an object found in Wittgensteins Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Freges writings.