DOCSLIB.ORG

(Anti)Theodicy and Innocent Suffering in Lamentations 3 Mark P

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
(Anti)Theodicy and Innocent Suffering in Lamentations 3 Mark P Seattle aP cific nivU ersity Digital Commons @ SPU Theses and Dissertations January 1st, 2014 'Whence This Evil?' A Critical Assessment of (Anti)Theodicy and Innocent Suffering in Lamentations 3 Mark P. Stone Seattle Pacific Seminary Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.spu.edu/etd Part of the Biblical Studies Commons Recommended Citation Stone, Mark P., "'Whence This Evil?' A Critical Assessment of (Anti)Theodicy and Innocent Suffering in Lamentations 3" (2014). Theses and Dissertations. 11. https://digitalcommons.spu.edu/etd/11 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ SPU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ SPU. "WHENCE THIS EVIL?" A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF (ANTI)THEODICY AND INNOCENT SUFFERING IN LAMENTATIONS 3 Mark P. Stone Seattle Pacific University The lament is a dramatic, rhetorical, liturgical act of speech that is irreversible. When spoken, it is done and cannot be recalled. It makes clear that Israel will no longer be a submissive, subservient recipient of decrees from the throne. There is a bold movement from Israel's side – a voice that does not silently and docilely accept but means to have its dangerous say, even in the face of God. In risking this form of speech, the conventional distribution of power is called into question. It is no longer placidly assumed that God has all the power and the covenant partner must simply submit. Pain speaks against legitimacy, which now for the first time is questioned as perhaps illegitimate. (Walter Brueggemann, Theology of the Old Testament, 27) The power of the status quo puts up the façades into which our consciousness crashes. It must seek to crash through them. This alone would free the postulate of depth from ideology. Surviving in such resistance is the speculative moment: what will not have its law prescribed for it by given facts transcends them even in the closest contact with the objects, and in repudiating a sacrosanct transcendence. Where the thought transcends the bonds it tied in resistance – there is its freedom. Freedom follows the subject's urge to express itself. The need to lend a voice to suffering is a condition of all truth. For suffering is objectivity that weighs upon the subject; its most subjective experience, its expression, is objectively conveyed. (Theodor W. Adorno, Negative Dialectics, 17-18) Νοήσωµεν πῶς ἀόργητος ὑπάρχει πρὸς πᾶσαν τὴν κτίσιν αὐτοῦ. (Clement of Rome, I Clement 19.3) Κακίας πάντῃ πάντως ἀναίτιος ὁ Θεὸς. (Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 7.2) Βία οὐ πρόσεστι τῷ Θεῷ. (Epistle to Diognetus 7.4) וְהָיִיתָ מְשֻׁגָּע מִמַּרְאֵה עֵינֶי! אֲשֶׁר תִּרְאֶה וְ אָכַ לְ תָּ טְנְ!פְרִ י־בִ בְּשַׂר בָּנֶי! וּבְנֹתֶי! אֲשֶׁר נָתַן־לְ! יְהוָה יָשִׂישׂ יְהוָה יכֶםעֲלֵ לְהַאֲבִיד אֶתְכֶם וּלְהַשְׁמִיד אֶתְכֶם עַל־כֵן אֵיכָה תֹאמְרוּ חֲכָמִים אֲנַחְנוּ וְתוֹרַת יְהוָה אִתָּנוּ אָכֵן הִנֵּה לַשֶּׁקֶר עָשָׂה עֵט שֶׁקֶר סֹפְרִ ים Table of Contents CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. WHERE LAMENTATIONS FINDS ITSELF 1 2. CONTEXTUAL CONCERNS a. Authorship, Date, and Place of Composition 6 b. The Exilic Context 10 c. Lamentations at Qumran 13 d. LXX Lamentations 14 d. Theodicy and Lamentations 15 i. "Theodicy" in Ancient Texts: Anachronism? 15 ii. Theodicy in Lamentations 19 3. LAMENTATIONS AS POETRY a. The Qinah Meter 27 b. Enjambment 28 c. Genre 29 d. Acrostic Structure 33 e. Literary and Thematic Structure 35 f. The Lyricism of Lamentations 38 CHAPTER 2: SURVEY OF RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY 1. INTRODUCTION 40 2. HISTORICAL APPROACHES: "BEHIND" THE TEXT 41 3. LITERARY APPROACHES: "IN" THE TEXT 44 4. IDEOLOGICAL APPROACHES: "IN FRONT OF" THE TEXT 48 5. INTEGRATED APPROACHES 54 6. METHODOLOGY: MIKHAIL BAKHTIN 59 7. CONCLUSION 65 CHAPTER 3: (ANTI)THEODICY IN LAMENTATIONS 3: A NEW READING 1. TRANSLATION OF 3:1-66 67 2. THE STRUCTURE OF LAMENTATIONS 3 75 3. EXEGESIS & COMMENTARY 76 a. 3:1-18 76 b. 3:19-21 78 c. 3:22-24 81 d. 3:25-30 83 e. 3:31-33 87 e. 3:34-39 93 f. 3:40-54 123 g. 3:55-66 126 CHAPTER 4: THEOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS & CONCLUSION 1. MAINTAINING THE CATEGORY OF INNOCENT SUFFERING 132 2. CONCLUSION 139 BIBLIOGRAPHY 155 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ABC Anchor Bible Commentary ABD David Noel Freedman (ed.). The Anchor Bible Dictionary. New York: Doubleday, 1992. ABRL Anchor Bible Reference Library ad loc. ad locum, at the same place AnBib Analecta biblica ANE ancient Near East ANET James B. Pritchard (ed.). Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969. ANF Ante-Nicene Fathers ArBib The Aramaic Bible ATD Das Alte Testament Deutsch AThR Anglican Theological Review AJ Acta Jutlandica b. Ber. Babylonian Talmud (Berakhot) b. Shabb. Babylonian Talmud (Shabbat) b. Qidd. Babylonian Talmud (Qiddushin) BEATAJ Beiträge zur Erforschung des alten Testaments und des antiken Judentums BETL Bibliotheca ephemeridum theologicarum lovaniensium BHS Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 5th edn. BibInt Biblical Interpretation Bib Biblica BibOr Biblica et orientalia BIS Biblical Interpretation Series BJS Brown Judaic Studies BKAT Biblischer Kommentar Altes Testament BSac Bibliotheca sacra BZ Biblische Zeitschrift i BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft CBR Currents in Biblical Research CEB Common English Bible CEV Common English Version cf. conferre, compare CGR Conrad Grebel Review CHANE Culture and History of the Ancient Near East cj. conjectural reading CMP Culture Memory in the Present COE Currents of Encounter: Studies on the Contact Between Christianity and Other Religions, Beliefs, and Cultures ConBOT Coniectanea biblica: Old Testament Series COS William W. Hallo (ed.). The Context of Scripture. 3 Vols. New York: Brill, 1997-2002. CurBS Currents in Research: Biblical Studies DJD Discoveries in the Judaean Desert EB Echter Bibel e.g. exempli gratia, for example EJ European Judaism ESV English Standard Version FAT Forschungen zum alten Testament FOTL The Forms of the Old Testament Literature GBHS Bill Arnold and John Choi. A Guide to Biblical Hebrew Syntax. GCS Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten Jahrhunderte GKC Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, as Edited and Enlarged by E. Kautzsch, Revised by A. E. Cowley. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910. HAT Handbuch zum Alten Testament HALOT L. Koehler, W. Baumgartner and J.J. Stamm, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. Trans. and ed. M.E.J. Richardson. 4 vols. Leiden: Brill, 1994-1999. HBM Hebrew Bible Monographs HBT Horizons in Biblical Theology HCOT Historical Commentary on the Old Testament HThKAT Herders Theologischer Kommentar zum alten Testament ii HTR Harvard Theological Review IB George A. Buttrick (ed.), The Interpreter's Bible (12 vols.) Abingdon Press, 1951-1957) IBHS B. K. Waltke and M. O'Connor, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1990. Syntax (Winona Lake: 1990) IBS Irish Biblical Studies ICC International Critical Commentary idem/eadem the same (author) Int Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching IntR Interpretation: Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church IRT Issues in Religion and Theology JAB Journal for the Aramaic Bible JANESCU Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society of Columbia University JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society JBH Judaica Books of the Hagiographa JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JLT Journal of Literature and Theology JNSL Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages JPS Jewish Publication Society JQR Jewish Quarterly Review JR Journal of Religion JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series KAT Kommentar zum alten Testament KHC Kurzer Hand-Commentar zum Alten Testament LAI Library of Ancient Israel Lam. Rab. Lamentations Rabbah LHB/OTS Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies LXX Septuagint MC Mesopotamian Civilizations MT Masoretic Text NAC New American Commentary NCBC The New Century Bible Commentary iii NCV New Century Version NET New English Translation NETS New English Translation of the Septuagint NIBC New International Biblical Commentary NIV New International Version NJPS Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures: The New JPS Translation according to the Traditional Hebrew Text NLT New Living Translation NPNF Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers NRSV New Revised Standard Version NT New Testament NZSTR Neue Zeitschrift für systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie OBO Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis OBT Overtures to Biblical Theology op. cit. opere citato, in the work already cited OT Old Testament OTE Old Testament Essays OTL Old Testament Library OTM Oxford Theological Monographs passim here and there PJT Pacific Journal of Theology ProEccl Pro ecclesia Proof Prooftexts: A Journal of Jewish Literary History PRSt Perspectives in Religious Studies RB Revue Biblique RelS Religious Studies SAIS Studies in Aramaic Interpretation of Scripture SBT Studies in Biblical Theology SBLMS Society of Biblical Literature Monograph Series SBLDS Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series SBLSCS Society of Biblical Literature Septuagint and Cognate Studies SBLSymS Society of Biblical Literature Symposium Series iv SECS Sixteenth Century Essays & Studies SemSt Semeia Studies (SBL) SHS The Scripture and Hermeneutics Series SJOT Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament SOFS Symbolae osloenses fasciculus suppletorius SSN Studia semitica neerlandica STDJ Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah STL Studia theologica Iudensia
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Theodicy: an Overview
    1 Theodicy: An Overview Introduction All of us struggle at one time or another in life with why evil happens to someone, either ourselves, our family, our friends, our nation, or perhaps some particularly disturbing instance in the news—a child raped, a school shooting, genocide in another country, a terrorist bombing. The following material is meant to give an overview of the discussion of this issue as it takes place in several circles, especially that of the Christian church. I. The Problem of Evil Defined Three terms, "the problem of evil," "theodicy," and "defense" are important to our discussion. The first two are often used as synonyms, but strictly speaking the problem of evil is the larger issue of which theodicy is a subset because one can have a secular problem of evil. Evil is understood as a problem when we seek to explain why it exists (Unde malum?) and what its relationship is to the world as a whole. Indeed, something might be considered evil when it calls into question our basic trust in the order and structure of our world. Peter Berger in particular has argued that explanations of evil are necessary for social structures to stay themselves against chaotic forces. It follows, then, that such an explanation has an impact on the whole person. As David Blumenthal observes, a good theodicy is one that has three characteristics: 1. "[I]t should leave one with one’s sense of reality intact." (It tells the truth about reality.) 2. "[I]t should leave one empowered within the intellectual-moral system in which one lives." (Namely, it should not deny God’s basic power or goodness.) 3.
    [Show full text]
  • An Atheistic Argument from Ugliness
    AN ATHEISTIC ARGUMENT FROM UGLINESS SCOTT F. AIKIN & NICHOLAOS JONES Vanderbilt University University of Alabama in Huntsville Author posting. (c) European Journal of Philosophy of Religion 7.1 (Spring 2015). This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version is available at http://www.philosophy-of- religion.eu/contents19.html This is a penultimate draft. Please cite only the published version. Abstract The theistic argument from beauty has what we call an ‘evil twin’, the argument from ugliness. The argument yields either what we call ‘atheist win’, or, when faced with aesthetic theodicies, ‘agnostic tie’ with the argument from beauty. 1 AN ATHEISTIC ARGUMENT FROM UGLINESS I. EVIL TWINS FOR TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENTS The theistic argument from beauty is a teleological argument. Teleological arguments take the following form: 1. The universe (or parts of it) exhibit property X 2. Property X is usually (if not always) brought about by the purposive actions of those who created objects for them to be X. 3. The cases mentioned in Premise 1 are not explained (or fully explained) by human action 4. Therefore: The universe is (likely) the product of a purposive agent who created it to be X, namely God. The variety of teleological arguments is as broad as substitution instances for X. The standard substitutions have been features of the universe (or it all) fine-tuned for life, or the fact of moral action. One further substitution has been beauty. Thus, arguments from beauty. A truism about teleological arguments is that they have evil twins.
    [Show full text]
  • Creation As Theodicy: in Defense of a Kabbalistic Approach to Evil
    Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers Volume 14 Issue 4 Article 6 10-1-1997 Creation as Theodicy: In Defense of a Kabbalistic Approach to Evil Robert Oakes Follow this and additional works at: https://place.asburyseminary.edu/faithandphilosophy Recommended Citation Oakes, Robert (1997) "Creation as Theodicy: In Defense of a Kabbalistic Approach to Evil," Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers: Vol. 14 : Iss. 4 , Article 6. DOI: 10.5840/faithphil199714441 Available at: https://place.asburyseminary.edu/faithandphilosophy/vol14/iss4/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at ePLACE: preserving, learning, and creative exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers by an authorized editor of ePLACE: preserving, learning, and creative exchange. CREATION AS THEODICY: IN DEFENSE OF A KABBALISTIC APPROACH TO EVIL Robert Oakes The doctrine of Tzimzum (or divine "withdrawal") occupies pride of place in the Jewish mystical tradition as a response to what is arguably the chief theo­ logical or metaphysical concern of that tradition: namely, how God's Infinity or Absolute Unlimitedness does not preclude the existence of a distinct domain of finite being. Alternatively, how can it be that God, by virtue of His Maximal Plenteousness, does not exhaust the whole of Reality? I attempt to show that, while a plausible argument - one that does not involve the idea of Tzimzum - can be mounted against this "pantheism" problem, the doctrine of Tzimzum has considerable force as the nucleus of a theodicy.
    [Show full text]
  • Theodicy and End-Of-Life Care
    Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care ISSN: 1552-4256 (Print) 1552-4264 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wswe20 Theodicy and End-of-Life Care Simon Dein , John Swinton & Syed Qamar Abbas To cite this article: Simon Dein , John Swinton & Syed Qamar Abbas (2013) Theodicy and End-of-Life Care, Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care, 9:2-3, 191-208, DOI: 10.1080/15524256.2013.794056 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15524256.2013.794056 Copyright Simon Dein, John Swinton, and Syed Qamar Abbas Published online: 18 Jun 2013. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 1147 View related articles Citing articles: 2 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=wswe20 Download by: [University of Aberdeen] Date: 19 September 2017, At: 06:54 Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care, 9:191–208, 2013 Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group ISSN: 1552-4256 print/1552-4264 online DOI: 10.1080/15524256.2013.794056 Theodicy and End-of-Life Care SIMON DEIN Centre for Behavioural and Social Sciences in Medicine, University College London, London, United Kingdom JOHN SWINTON School of Divinity, History and Philosophy, King’s College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom SYED QAMAR ABBAS Palliative Medicine, St. Clare Hospice, Hastingwood, Essex, United Kingdom This article examines theodicy—the vindication of God’s goodness and justice in the face of the existence of evil from the perspectives of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
    [Show full text]
  • The Overcoming of Traditional Theodicy in Levinas and Metz
    religions Article Memory and History: The Overcoming of Traditional Theodicy in Levinas and Metz Manuel Losada-Sierra Faculty of Education and Humanities, Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Bogotá 110111, Colombia; [email protected] Received: 15 October 2019; Accepted: 30 November 2019; Published: 4 December 2019 Abstract: Grappling with the marginalization of the marginal in Western thinking, this paper sets up a dialogue between Emmanuel Levinas’s philosophy and Johann Baptist Metz’s political theology in order to learn from their thoughts on the suffering of victims. For both Levinas and Metz, the idea of theodicy as an explanation of suffering is linked to the ontological conception of time and history, and therefore useless and unjustifiable by nature. The essential question of this research is how to give meaning to the concrete suffering of humanity in order to redeem history from the concept of an evolutionary progress which limits the possibility of hearing the cries of the victims of history. This article will show how Levinas’s and Metz´s rejection of traditional theodicy is closely related to the concepts of memory and history and, therefore, the paper will demonstrate how traditional theodicy becomes for both thinkers an ethical theodicy. Consequently, the ethical account of theodicy replaces the attempt to negotiate the goodness and power of God with the pain of human beings. From this perspective, ethics is shaped by a response to the cry of victims which summons the subject to understand freedom as limited and subordinated to ethical responsibility. In responding to suffering, philosophy and theology can meet beyond idealism and dogmatism.
    [Show full text]
  • The Order of Nature and Moral Luck: Maimonides on Divine Providence
    The Order of Nature and Moral Luck: Maimonides on Divine Providence Steven Nadler University of Wisconsin-Madison Rationalist Jewish thinkers, just because of their rationalism, faced a particular challenge when approaching the problem of evil. On the one hand, they were committed to the idea that the problem did have an answer, that the humble skepticism or fideism that closes the Book of Job (“God is so great that we cannot know him” [Job 36:26]) is not the last word on the matter. An explanation can indeed be given for the suffering of the virtuous and the prosperity of the vicious. There are accessible reasons why bad things happen to good people and good things to bad people. It is something we can understand. On the other hand, not even the most convinced rationalist of the medieval period was willing to say that God’s reasons are completely transparent to human understanding, that we can know the deepest secrets of divine wisdom and find therein the theodicean answer we seek. Another factor is the rationalist’s need to avoid the anthropomorphization of God. Maimonides, Gersonides, and others were all concerned to explain divine providence without resorting to the portrayal of God as a personal agent, one who regards each particular situation in its particularity and engages in the distribution of reward and punishment in a human-like way – fending off dangers from the righteous and hurling thunderbolts upon the vicious. This overall attitude is well captured by Maimonides’ approach to the problem of evil. He argued, of course, strenuously against the anthropomorphization of God; this is 1 one of the primary themes of the Guide of the Perplexed.
    [Show full text]
  • Evil and the Ontological Disproof
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 9-2017 Evil and the Ontological Disproof Carl J. Brownson III The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/2155 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] EVIL AND THE ONTOLOGICAL DISPROOF by CARL BROWNSON A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Philosophy in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, City University of New York 2017 1 © 2017 CARL BROWNSON All Rights Reserved ii Evil and the Ontological Disproof by Carl Brownson This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Philosophy in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date Graham Priest Chair of Examining Committee Date Iakovos Vasiliou Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Stephen Grover, advisor Graham Priest Peter Simpson Nickolas Pappas Robert Lovering THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii ABSTRACT Evil and the Ontological Disproof by Carl Brownson Advisor: Stephen Grover This dissertation is a revival of the ontological disproof, an ontological argument against the existence of God. The ontological disproof, in its original form, argues that God is impossible, because if God exists, he must exist necessarily, and necessary existence is impossible. The notion of necessary existence has been largely rehabilitated since this argument was first offered in 1948, and the argument has accordingly lost much of its force.
    [Show full text]
  • The Problem of Evil and the Probity of Theodicy from William Rowe's
    Liberty University Department of Philosophy The Problem of Evil and the Probity of Doing Theodicy from William Rowe’s Evidential Argument from Evil ------------------------------------------- A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of Philosophy Department of Liberty University In Partial Fulfilment Of the Requirement for the Degree Master of Arts in Philosophical Studies -------------------------------------------- By Olaoluwa Apata -------------------------------------------- Lynchburg, VA May 2016 Abstract In this research, we discussed the types of evil: moral and natural, which are cited by atheistic philosophers as evidence against the existence of God. The so-called evidence from evil has been used by the atheistic and other non-theistic scholars to raise hypothesis on evaluating the possibility or likelihood that an omnipotent, omniscient, and wholly good God exists in a world that is littered with evil. Moral evil is evil that arise from the misuse of free will by moral agents, while natural evils are natural disasters such as: earthquakes, famine, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes etc. We discussed moral evil and Plantinga’s free will defense. We also discussed the natural evil and how it poses threat to theism. The logical and the evidential arguments from evil are the forms of arguments developed from moral and natural evils. While many scholars have agreed that Plantinga’s free will defense adequately responds to the problem of logical evil, the same consensus does not necessarily apply to the evidential argument from evil. We also examined William Rowe’s evidential argument which he developed from cases of intense animal and human sufferings considered by him to be pointless or gratuitous with no known reasons or goods for which God should have allowed the visceral experience of such sufferings.
    [Show full text]
  • The Passion for Metaphysics in Maimonides' Thought
    Dov Schwartz The Passion for Metaphysics in Maimonides’ Thought My concern in this paper is five chapters in Guide of the Perplexed I:31–35. Centring on an educational and didactic issue, this unit deals with the proper approach to the study of metaphysics as manifest in the requirements concerning four aspects: 1. A scientific aspect: preceding the study of metaphysics by the study of other sciences (logic, mathematics, physics, and astronomy). 2. A methodological aspect: preserving proper rules of thought, proceeding cau- tiously and constantly examining the arguments. 3. An ethical aspect: focusing exclusively on the study of these sciences and keeping away from material concerns. 4. A political aspect: concern for the masses – guaranteeing they do not exceed the limited boundaries of their comprehension while ensuring their access to a minimum of metaphysical assumptions. I will argue that, in this unit, Maimonides relies on what he views as an almost uncon- trollable urge to reach the summits of knowledge. I will further argue that Maimo- nides turned the passion for metaphysics into a powerful political and theological factor. The conclusion of the discussion will be that this unit is one of the most con- centrated expressions of Maimonidean rationalism. Several questions recur in discussions about the Guide: Maimonides’ aim in writing the book, his attitude towards science and its connection to revelation on the one hand, and towards biblical exegesis and rabbinic sources on the other. Additional questions touch on the character of the book, the reason for the order of its chapters, its concealment techniques, the identification of esoteric ideas, and so forth.
    [Show full text]
  • Process Theodicy and the Life After Death: a Possibility Or a Necessity?
    PROCESS THEODICY AND THE LIFE AFTER DEATH: A POSSIBILITY OR A NECESSITY? Sofia Vescovelli Abstract: In this paper I argue for the necessity of eschatology for process thought, and against the idea that the belief in a life after death is not an essential element for this theodicy. Without reference to an eschatological dimension, a process theodicy is led to admit a consequentialist conception of divine love and goodness that is inconsistent with its notion of a responsive and participative God who loves each creature. In the world many creatures suffer atrocious evils, which destroy the value of their lives, but the process God does not redeem these sufferings in a personal post-mortem life in which the sufferers participate and can find meaning for their individual evils. In order to support my thesis, I intend to examine some difficulties in process theodicy, especially in Charles Hartshorne’s position, showing how his doctrine of objective immortality is unsatisfactory. My starting point will be some criticisms advanced by John Hick against Hartshorne and the replies made by the process philosopher David R. Griffin. I conclude by contending that process theodicy, at least in its Hartshornean version, in denying the necessity of a personal afterlife, does not provide a satisfying answer to the soteriological-individual aspect of the problem of evil, namely the problem of the individual salvation in which the individual person can find redemption and meaning for the sufferings undergone or inflicted. In the process perspective the divine love is conceived in consequentialist terms and evils suffered by the individual are merely considered a by-product or the negative side of the divine creation out of chaos.
    [Show full text]
  • A Kantian Theodicy
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Asbury Theological Seminary Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers Volume 1 Issue 2 Article 9 4-1-1984 A Kantian Theodicy David McKenzie Follow this and additional works at: https://place.asburyseminary.edu/faithandphilosophy Recommended Citation McKenzie, David (1984) "A Kantian Theodicy," Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers: Vol. 1 : Iss. 2 , Article 9. Available at: https://place.asburyseminary.edu/faithandphilosophy/vol1/iss2/9 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at ePLACE: preserving, learning, and creative exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers by an authorized editor of ePLACE: preserving, learning, and creative exchange. A KANTIAN THEODICY David McKenzie. Since the publication of J. L. Mackie's "Evil and Omnipotence" in 1955 and especially since the publication of Alvin Plantinga's God, Freedom, and Evil in 1974, much discussion of the problem of evil has been focused on the Free Will Defense as a possible solution. Furthermore, the discussion has been oriented to what is sometimes called, 'the logical problem', namely, whether the statement that the omnipotent, omniscient, and wholly good God of theism exists is consis­ tent with the statementthat evil exists, and not so much to the 'evidential problem' , namely, whether, even if Plantinga and others are right and these two are ulti­ mately consistent, the extent of the evil in our world does not undermine the ra­ tional justifiability of belief in God.
    [Show full text]
  • “If God Meant to Interfere”: Evolution and Theodicy in Blood Meridian
    “IF GOD MEANT TO INTERFERE”: EVOLUTION AND THEODICY IN BLOOD MERIDIAN Christopher Douglas The kid spat dryly and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. A lizard came out from under a rock and crouched on its small cocked elbows over that piece of froth and drank it dry and returned to the rock again leaving only a faint spot in the sand which vanished almost instantly.1 The opening pages of Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian introduce the character of Judge Holden at an evangelical tent revival meeting held in Nacogdoches in 1849. The anonymous protagonist of the novel, called only “the kid,” has slipped into Reverend Green’s “nomadic house of God” (6) to get out of the rain. He hears the preacher describe the constancy of God’s love—“Don’t you know that he said I will foller ye always even unto the end of the road?” including “these here hell, hell, hellholes right here in Nacogdoches” where the temptations of alcohol and prostitution await (6). This conviction of human sin coupled with God’s promise of constancy set the stage for a presumable altar call: Reverend Green will invite his tent revival audience to recognize their own sinfulness and need for redemption and that only faith in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins, offers the salvation they need. This evangelical invitation to be born again is interrupted by the judge— perhaps the most enigmatic and terrifying character in all American lit- M L 45.2 (Summer 2013) 83 84 Religion & Literature erature—who steps into the tent to address the audience with charges of imposture and iniquity.
    [Show full text]