Theodicy and the problem of evil

1. Theodicy and the problem of evil

2. The problem of evil and suffering • If God is supremely good, • and the creator (or author) of the best possible universe, • then why is there so much pain and sin in the world?

3. Theodicy • Theodicy: theos (God) and dikē (justice) • an attempt to reconcile God’s supremely benevolent and all-good nature with the evil in the world • Leibnitz coined the term in the 1690's

4. Three versions of the problem of evil • Holiness problem (medieval philosophers) • Atheist problem (contemporary) • The “underachiever problem”

5. Holiness problem • God is the author of everything that exists, • given that evil is one of the things that exists, • God is therefore the author of evil. • if an agent is an “author of evil”, he is therefore implicated in the evil and cannot be morally pure or holy. • Thus, God cannot be morally pure nor holy.

6. Medievalsolution • The standard solution was to deny that evil is “something”; but consider it as a “privation” or “lack” of being. • On such a view, evil has no more reality than the hole in the center of a donut – the hole is the privation of the cake (it is a by-product) • Given that evil, like the hole, is merely a privation, it requires no cause.

7. God does not “causally contribute to the existence of evil” because evil per se is not a thing and therefore requires no cause in order to exist. • since God does not cause the existence of evil, • God cannot be causally implicated in evil. • Thus, the holiness problem evaporates.

8. Leibnitz’sresponse • God is the author of all that is real in the world, therefore God is also the “author” of all of privations in the world • Although God wills everything in the world, his will with respect to good is decretory , whereas his will with respect to evil is merely permissive. • God’spermissive willing of evil is a necessary consequence of God fulfilling His duty (that is, to create the best possible world)

9. Leibnitz’s solution • The best possible universe does not mean no evil, but that less overall evil is impossible. • All created beings are limitations and imperfect; therefore evil and sin are necessary for created beings

10. Atheistproblem • God and evil are incompatible • given that evil clearly exists, • God cannot exist

11. Underachiever problem • if the sort of being that traditional monotheism identifies as God were to exist, • the existence of this world would represent a vast underachievement on his part, • therefore there is no such being Atheists take this conclusion to prove that there is no God; another option: God Exists, but He is not the sort of being that the traditional theist supposes Him to be

12. Leibnitz: Underachieverproblem • IfGod were all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good, then this world would be the best possible world. • But surely this world is not the best possible world. • Thus, God is not all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good. Conclusion false – so which premise is false? Given that Leibnitz is committed to the first premise, he rejects the second premise

13. What reason do we have for thinking that premise 2 - this world is not the best possible world - is true? example: • a world without the Holocaust would be better than the actual world. • there is no reason why God couldn't have created the world without the Holocaust. • Thus, this is not the best possible world.

14. Leibnitz’sresponse: while we can think of certain token features of the world that in and of themselves might be better than they are, we do not know whether it is possible to create a better world lacking those features, because we can never be certain of the nature of the connections between the token events in question and other events in the world.

15. Example without the Holocaust the world might have been different, perhaps the state of Israel would have not been founded, and perhaps a world without the State of Israel would have been a worse world. individual instances of suffering (or evil) all make a contribution to the big picture, and from God's perspective in which the entire big picture is clear, those instances of suffering contribute to the perfection of the whole video

16. Leibnitz’s solution: Underachieverproblem • Summary: God does not underachieve in creating this world because this world is the best of all possible worlds

17. Theodicyandfreewill • can we say that it is part of the perfection of this universe that people have free will, and so when people freely choose to be evil, that is just part of the price that has to be paid for having the perfection called free will?

18. Leibnitz’sresponse The free will defense fails. It doesn't answer the question of why God created a universe containing people who would freely choose to do evil, when God knew all along that these people would be like that.  Why didn't God create a universe with better people in it -- more people who would freely choose to do less evil?

19. Leibnitz’sresponse Leibniz deals with evil by maintaining his basic principles: Evil people exist in this world because they are all needed to make this world the best possible one. From Leibniz’s perspective the Holocaust is needed in order to make this the best possible universe, he will repeat that such evil is a necessary part of the best possible universe because this has to be the best possible universe, since God creates and sustains it.

20. TheSufferingofJob The modern version of the problem of theodicy goes back to Leibnitz, but has at its core its first great interpretation in Job's complaint in the face of suffering, which he can no longer understand.

21. The book of Job addresses questions of morality and faith. Job is an example of a perfect and upright (תם וישר) person. He is the manifestation of ToratHagmul(the theory of repayment) Following a conversation between God and Satan, Job is tested.

22. Thestructureofthestory • Satan tempted God to test Job by destroying his property, corrupting his body, and disturbing his mind. • comprises the dialogues of Job and his comforters; The second part ends with the appearance of God • Job's restoration: he is rewarded for his constancy by being re-endowed in health, progeny and goods, and the comforters are scolded.

23. mainstream Jewish view is that God will reward those who observe His commandments and punish those who intentionally transgress them. • in forming this connection between justice and reward and evil and punishment the emphasis may be diverted from just and evil to reward and punishment

24. What problem arises from this mainstream view? we may reach a moral view according to which a person should be good because he will be rewarded, and one should avoid evil because he will fail. This will turn morality and religion to means for material success this is not the biblical view but its destruction

25. Themeaningofthetest • Job’s righteousness is not doubted, but his motives are questioned

26. how can we distinguish between true moral ethics in which success is only its outcome and not its goal (although it is the necessary outcome) and fake morality in which success is the goal, and does a true moral ethics exist at all? • By separating the two: the truly moral ethical person will remain so also if he experiences tragedy instead of success. • This is the meaning of the test recounted at the beginning of the book of Job.

27. Job’s suffering takes more than his family, property, and health; it deprives Job of the god whom Job mistook God to be. Even after God’s reply, we must imagine that Job struggles to adjust to a somewhat lessened God, “a God of awe and wonder but… not a God of pity; not a God who cares on a human scale”

28. Does Job pass the Test? • Job, 9: • יט' אִם לְכֹחַ אַמִּיץ הִנֵּה וְאִם לְמִשְׁפָּט מִי יוֹעִידֵנִי. כ'תָּם-אָנִי, וַיַּעְקְשֵׁנִי.   כב'עַל-כֵּן אָמַרְתִּי--תָּם וְרָשָׁע, הוּא מְכַלֶּה. • כג לְמַסַּת נְקִיִּם יִלְעָג.

29. Reality reveals an arbitrary God, but Job still maintains the ideal of a moral God. • Job’s religiosity remains while his God is lost. • Job tries to dissolve this conflict by calling God to reveal Himself.

30. Job's primary claim is that God is immoral, and his primary evidence is the lack of moral order in the world. • What is the problem with this claim?

31. God’s reply to Job • The principle of God's answer to Job is as said in Isaiah 55,8: • “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways says the Lord" • "כי לא מחשבותי מחשבותיכם ולא דרכיכם דרכי נאם ה   “ • Therefore there is no reason or need for justifying God.

32. Job tries to discuss God’s ways by using human categories of moral and immoral and understand God's essence using human conceptions. • But human categories are not applicable to God and we cannot explain God's ways.

33. In addition to Job's one question concerning God's ways, God himself adds questions regarding his ways in the world in order to move from the question to the wonder. Religious life is not based on rational answers to rational questions but on a feeling of wonder and mystery in light of God's ways in the world. Accepting God means being perfect and upright, and one that fears God.

34. God's revelation presents a solution to Job's religiosity. But God does not justify Himself before Job nor is he tried by Job. His revelation is his justification, but what He says removes all need for God's justification: His reply reveals the fundamental incomprehensibility of God's ways in the world, whereas the justification of God is an attempt to understand and affirm Him by using human categories.

35. Does Job pass the Test?Is Job’s righteousness true or fake? • Job's righteousness is revealed in that he never doubts his ways of goodness, he never considers changing his ways and doing wrong. He never envies the wicked he becomes aware that at times the righteous suffer and the wicked succeed. • It is not the naïve righteousness we find at the first chapters.

36. Does Job pass the Test? • the important issue is not whether one praises or curses God, but how and in what circumstances one praises or curses God. • The dramatic difference between Job and his friends reveals the difference between two types of religiosities: • Job reveals the true inner religion that does not recoil from cursing God. • The friends manifest the exterior superficial religion, which knows only praise and this praise is artificial and flattery.

37. WhatcanthestoryofJobteachusinrelationtotheHolocaust? • Job's personal question was answered with God's revelation • but did his objections receive a satisfactory solution? • Is a problem resolved when it is removed? • Is the solution of Job’s story applicable to post-Holocaust theodicy?