Page |127 when they hold such beliefs? Can they * See Luhrmann in this volume. be made to feel less lonely by calling 1 ; ; fhe ¢o mind? Mises snecifieallk: how Thomas Aquinas is one prominent theologian : ° Pe y> in the Christian tradition who highlights this does the influence of this construal on idea: “creation ...is the very dependency of the feelings of social isolation compare with created act of being upon the principle [God] that of other construals—for example, a from which it is produced.” Summa Contra construal that directly associates God’s Gentiles, Book Twa: Creation, trans. James F. creative influence with the irredeemable Anderson (Notre Dame and London: University bad? How might the stronger sense of of Notre Dame Press, 1975), chapter 18, section God’s presence in the hardships one 2, P. 99. suffers balance out in the latter case 1 see again, for example, Thomas Aquinas, against the unhappy quality of the Summa Contra Gentiles, Book Two: Creation, connection? Might one feel oneself to be chapters 31-38, pp. 91-115. better off alone, in other words, if God is i 5 5 See, for example, Martin Luther, Lectures on as much one’s tormentor as one’s F P : b £ ? Finall bl Galatians (1535), in Luther’s Works, ed. Jaroslav enetactor’ Hg compare ° . Pelikan (St Louis, Missouri: Concordia Publishing problems to the ones for belief surface in House, 1964), vols. 26-27. the more experience-driven God-as- : friend outlook in Christianity, and make Thomas Aquinas again provides a clear experimental testing pertinent.*™ If the theological exposition of this view. See, for : : example, his Summa Contra Gentiles, Book problem in both cases is that a strong ; ‘ P Three: Providence, Part 1, trans. Vernon J. sense of connection with God is hard to eect : ao : Bourke (Notre Dame and London: University of sustain—because God is invisible in the Notre Dame Press, 1975), chapter 70, section 8, one case or crowded out by more p. 237: “It is also apparent that the same effect