198 Summer 2008 T hroughout history, the symbol “God” has been used or rather misused for human purposes and for obscure immanent and ideological projects, 1 till the moment came that even “God” was announced “dead.” Philosopher and postmodernism’s 2 prophet Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche 3 was convinced: we killed God! The “God is dead” statement in Die fröhliche Wissenschaft, 4 published in 1882, is the single most-quoted line expressing his concern for the develop- ment of Western society in the modern age. Modern science and the increasing seculariza- tion of the West have, according to Nietzsche, effectively “killed” the (Judeo-) Christian God. The basis for meaning and value which our civilization has known for thousands of years is now literally under threat. After the atrocities of 9/11 and in light of recent intellectual debates on religion, as in Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion, 5 we are not only facing global theoretical clashes between various groups concerning the God question, but will have to face up to its huge practical implications, especially implement- ing laws and decrees on a political level. The divide in the West between those who accept and believe in divine reality and those who do not and the schism between religious extremists using violence and the common religious citizen, is an existential, practical, and attitudinal, as well as an intellectual, problem. The debates that explore religion or spiri- tuality, as expressed in global book sales, have grown by more than fifty percent in the past three years. According to online retailer Amazon, the “God-boom” in the new mil- lennium surpasses the rise in sales of books in categories such as history, which have grown by thirty-eight percent, and politics, up by thirty percent, confirming that religion has become a pivotal topic in the early twenty- first century. 6 Since our human quest for knowledge still seems to push us towards borders of transcen- dence, one wonders: Has “God” or the Biblical “I AM WHO I AM” really been put to death in global consciousness? Or are we just sleeping? Contemporary atheists Rich- ard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett would go further than Nietzsche (who still believed that there was a God—but He was dead) by claiming that science has proven God’s exist- ence false. They firmly believe that science has provided other truths to take its place. The question is, can any scientific data fulfill Etty Hillesum and the Light of Faith: A Voegelinian Analysis Meins G. S. Coetsier MEINS G. S. COETSIER is a researcher at the Etty Hillesum Research Center at Ghent University and author of Etty Hillesum and the Flow of Presence (University of Missouri Press, 2008).