What does it mean to say that God is present or absent? For Jews, Christians, and Moslems alike God is not an inference, an absentee entity of which we can detect only faint traces in our world. On the contrary, God is present reality, indeed the most present of all realities. However, belief in God's presence cannot ignore the widespread experience of God's absence. Moreover, there is little sense in speaking of God's absence if it cannot be distinguished from God's non-presence or non-existence. So how are we to understand the sense of divine presence and absence in religious and everyday life? This is what the essays in this volume explore in the biblical traditions, in Jewish and Christian theology and philosophy, and in contemporary philosophy of religion.With contributions by:Stefan Alkier, Richard Amesbury, Philip Clayton, Ingolf U. Dalferth, Stephen T. Davis, Roland Faber, Jerome Gellman, Patrick Horn, Anselm Min, Tammi J. Schneider, Leah Rediger Schulte, Kristin De Troyer, Claudia Welz, John H. Whittaker