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This Thesis Is Submitted in Fulfilment of The. Requirements of the Degree Of The Problem of Evil and Theodicy in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Thought Muhsin Akbaý This thesisis submittedin fulfilment of the. requirementsof the degreeof Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Wales University of Wales,Lampeter 1999 1 Acknowledgements I would like to expressmy sinceregratitude to ProfessorPaul Badham,who has supervisedmy research,for his valuableattention, guidance, suggestions, and comments. I would also like to thank to ProfessorRabbi Dan Cohn-Sherbokfor his helpful supervision in the Jewish side of this study, and to Dr. Dawüd al-`Alanü for his valuable suggestionsin the Islamic side of this work. It is necessarythat I extend my deepestgratitude to the Higher Educational Counsel of Turkey and canakkale Onsekiz Mart University for their financial support without which this studywould not haveemerged. I would also like to thank to Professor Mehmet Aydm and ProfessorHanifi Özcanat the Faculty of Divinity at Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir for they encouragedme to pursue an academic career in Philosophy of Religion. I am very happy to thank to the members of the library and the ACS at Lampeter for their assistance during my research. Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my wife, Emine, for her patience, support, and encouragement throughout my research. Il Abstract This thesisis the study of the problemof evil and theodicyin Jewish,Christian, and Islamic traditions.The principal aim of the study is to explore,discuss, and compare and contrastthe major responsesto the problem of evil offered in the sacredwritings, theology and philosophy of the three Abrahamic faiths. I have demonstratedhow Judaism,Christianity, and Islam understoodthe problem of evil, and respondedto the atheisticargument from evil. In Preamble,I give a brief introductoryto the discussionsof the problem of evil in the westernphilosophy of religion. I outline the atheisticformulations of the problem of evil, the theistic conceptof God, evil, and theodicy. In the Part Two, I explore the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic responsesto the problem of suffering. In Part Three, I compare and contrast the responsesoffered in the Part Two. I conclude from the discussion of the responsesthat some features of Augustinianand Irenaeantheodicy in Christiantradition can be detectedin Jewish and Islamic theodicies.While the former doesnot provide a reasonableanswer to the fact of evil, the latter is promising. However,the Irenaeantype of theodicies,too, do not solve the problem of evil conclusively. They provide a reasonable solution affirming both the belief in God and evil. III Abbreviations AH: Anno Hegirae("Year of the Hijra") Am.: The Book ofAmos in Tanakh Art.: Article c.: Circa ("about") CE: CommonEra cf.: Confer("compare") ch.: Chapter Col.: TheLetter of Paul to the Colossiansin the New Testament 2 Cor.: TheSecond Letter of Paul to the Corinthiansin the New Testament d.: Death Deut.: TheBook of Deuteronomyin Tanakh Gen.: TheBook of Genesisin Tanakh Ecc.: The Book of Ecclesiastes in Tanakh Ed(s).: Editor(s) e.g.: Exemplia gratia ("for example") et al.: Et alia ("and others") etc.: Etcetera ("and so on") Ex.: The Book of Exodus in Tanakh Ezek.: The Book of Ezekiel in Tanakh Heb.: The Letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament i. e.: Id est ("that is") Isa.: TheBook of Isaiah in Tanakh Jas.: The Letter of James in the New Testament Jer.: The Book ofJeremiah in Tanakh Matt.: The Gospel According to Matthew in the New Testament n.d.: No date n.: Footnote/endnote Num.: TheBook of Numbersin Tanakh IV p: Part 1 Pet.: TheFirst Letter of Peter in the New Testament Phil.: TheLetter of Paul to the Philippiansin the New Testament Prov.: TheBook of Proverbsin Tanakh Ps.: TheBook of Psalmsin Tanakh Q.: Question Rev.: TheRevelation to John in the New Testament Rom.: TheLetter of Paul to the Romansin the New Testament 2 Sam.: TheBook of 2 Samuelin Tanakh 1 Thes.: TheFirst Letter of Paul to the Thessaloniansin the New Testament Trans.: Translated V Transliterations of Arabic Words and Names ": a t long b: vowel: a . z Y: b u: t gh 4!d: th f C: j i: q k kh 1 d m 1: dh 0: n r A: h z j consonant: w long ,.e: s j vowel: ü sh 4 consonant: y $ 4 long vowel: i d ShortVowels au vi CONTENTS Acknowledgments 1 Abstract II Abbreviations 111 Transliterations Y INTRODUCTION 1 PART ONE: PREAMBLE 1.THE CONSTITUENTSOF TIlE PROBLEMOF EVIL 4 A. The Formulationsof the Problemof Evil 5 B. The TheisticConcept of God 9 C. Evil, Sufferingand Pain 14 D. Theodicy 15 PART TWO: THE THEODICIES II. THE JEWISH THEODICIES 17 E. The Major Responsesof Tanakh 19 1. Sufferingas Retribution 19 2. Suffering as Discipline and Test 23 3. The Free-Will Explanation 25 4. Suffering as Redemption: 26 5. Mystery 30 F. The JewishTheological And PhilosophicalTheodicies 33 1. The TraditionalTheodicies 33 a. The Privationof Good 33 b. The Free-Will Explanation 37 c. The VicariousSuffering 41 d. The EschatologicalResolution 46 2. The Modern Theodicies 51 a. The Holocaustas a New Revelation 51 VII b. The Holocaustas TheTremendson 56 c. A New VoluntaryCovenant 60 3. The Anti-Theodicies 67 a. The Protestof God'sSilence 67 b. The DeathOf God 71 III. THE CHRISTIAN THEODICIES 75 G. The Major Responsesof the New Testament 75 1. Sufferingas Retribution 0 77 2. Suffering as Discipline and Test 83 3. Sufferingas Redemption 84 4. The EschatologicalResolution 90 IL The ChristianTheological And PhilosophicalTheodicies 94 1. The TraditionalTheodicies 95 a. The AugustinianTheodicy 95 b. The IrenaeanTheodicy 114 2. The Modem Theodicies 126 a. ProcessTheodicy 126 b. The Free-W'dl Defence 135 c. TheNatural Law Theodicy 148 d. The Soul-MakingTheodicy 167 IV. THE MUSLIM THEODICIES 185 1. Sufferingas Retribution 191 2. The Free-Will Explanation 195 3. Sufferingas Discipline andTest 200 4. The EschatologicalResponse 205 J. The Muslim TheologicalAnd PhilosophicalTheodicies 210 1. The Privationof Good 210 2. The Free-Will Explanation 217 3. The Best-Possible-WorldTheodicy 224 4. Sufferingas Redemption 233 VIII PART THREE: ANALYSIS V. A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS 244 K. An Analysisof the ScripturalTheodicies 247 L. An Analysisof the Theologicaland Philosophical Theodicies 262 M. Conclusion 280 GLOSSARY 288 BIBLIOGRAPHY 291 1 INTRODUCTION The problem of evil is one of the major issuesof the Westernphilosophy of religion. It is the genericname for to the atheisticargument from the existenceof evil against the theistic belief in God. As an academicdiscipline, philosophy of religion examinesthe reasonablenessand coherenceof religiousbeliefs suchas belief in God, life after death, miracle and the like taking into account the data available in modern knowledge,particularly scienceand philosophy. Sincethe perceptionof religion differs from one religion to another, and interpretationsof knowledge, and methodology of philosophyvary with eachphilosophical theory, philosophyof religion showsa manifold structure consisting of various theological and philosophical viewpoints including of atheism. The problem of evil is one of these atheistic arguments based on the so-called inconsistencyof the reality of evil, suffering, and pain in the world with the existenceof all-powerful and compassionateGod. Atheism as a philosophical position can be characterisedas a way of denial of the theistic belief in God. Atheist philosophersput forward several argumentsto justify the atheistic assertionthat religious claims, and particularly that God exists, are logically inconsistent and unreasonable.Personal experiencesof pain and sorrow may also lead individuals to ask themselvessuch questionsas "why me?" and "what have I done to deservethis? ". This is what can be calledthe practicalproblem of evil, which requiresapplicable solutions suited to personal circumstances. On the other hand, the philosophical problem is a challenge and threat of the reality evil to the theistic belief in God. Atheist philosophersformally statethis as a philosophicalargument in the westernphilosophy of religion. 2 The major theistic religions of the world againstwhich the questionof evil is raised particularly are Judaism,Christianity, and Islam. It is the claim of the three religions that they have originatedfrom the sameancestral source, namely the patriarch Abraham.That is why they are often called the Abrahamic faiths. Moreover, the three religions all affirm that there is a good and all-powerful God. For that reason,they are also called the theistic andmonotheistic faiths. Furthermore,I can saythis much at this point that Jewish,Christian, and Islamic traditions agree with the fact that there is evil, suffering and pain in the world even though there are different interpretations regarding to the nature of evil. The happenings of evil are,in fact, partly a reasonfor the existenceof religions.That is to say,the theistic faiths aim at removing evil and suffering from human lives providing peace and happiness in this world as well as in life after death. Therefore, the atheistic argument from evil directly challenges each three theistic faiths requiring an answer that reconciles the existenceof evil in the world with the existenceof all-powerful and compassionate God. It is the purposeof this study to explore,discuss and comparethe responsesto the problem of evil offeredby the major theistic faiths, namely,Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In pursuingthis purpose,I shall, firstly, look up the sacredwritings of the three theistic faiths as the foundation of theological and philosophicalresponses to evil and suffering. I shall focus on the canonof Jewishscriptures, namely,
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