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Chapter 11: Theodicy

Chapter 11: Theodicy.

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Chapter 11: Theodicy

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  1. Chapter 11: Theodicy term coined in 1710 by the German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz in his book Theodicy: Essays on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil. The purpose of the essay was to show that the evil in the world does not conflict with the goodness of God and thatthe world is the best of all possible worlds, despite the evil in it. The Problem of Evil Theos =God dikos= justice “Justifying the ways of God”

  2. Reactions to tragedy • Fatedness, meaninglessness, despair….. • Religion counters that by offering a sense of control of a more positive future, meaningfulness and hope. How? Compensation: the near future will fix it Explanation: Its because of….karma, God’s will…. Etc. Communal Support: Wakes, funerals, burials, support groups, listening, prayer, hand-holding…. Healing: Hospitals, disaster aid, food, water, medicine, hospices, prayer, financial support.

  3. The Most Violent Century? • 20th century: wars and starvation killed about 70 million people. • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_and_anthropogenic_disasters_by_death_toll

  4. Mystical Participation in something greater than one’s self • A Chinese father can die happily knowing he lives on in his well-raised sons. • A soldier can face death knowing he lives on in his unit, tribe or nation. • A Christian endures persecution believing he or she is sharing in the suffering of Christ.

  5. A future, this-world theodicy* • *a.k.a“millenarianism” Compensation for present suffering is coming: • God will set his people free and establish a new Zion, where the Jewish people can prosper in freedom . • The Son of Man will come (or return) and establish the Kingdom of God on earth. • Hussite reform in Bohemia leads to millenarian revolt of the Taborites in 1419 (Czech) see p. 241

  6. Shi’a Islam: the hidden Imam will return at some point to begin 1000 years of justice and peace. (Iran’s 1979 revolution lead by the imam Khomeini). • The Milleritesin New England believed the world would end in 1843. • Marxism: the classless workers’ paradise is coming once the revolution succeeds

  7. Other-worldytheodicies Something better awaits you at death. • Heaven • Paradise • the Pure Land • Nirvana • Moksha

  8. Dualistic Theodicies • Zoroastrianism : light will defeat darkness • Gnosticism: you will leave your earthly body behind and escape into the spiritual world. (see Mandeans, p.244)

  9. Karma-Samsara Theodicy • Samsara; the wheel of rebirth (reincarnation). • People have self-consiousness, freedom and responsibilty. We have total responsibility for our own future and total accountability for our own past actions. We have reason and free will. Good and evil realities can only come from good and evil actions freely chosen in the past or present (karma). • Fulfilling your duty (dharma) in life is the ultimate good. To go against your dharma as assigned by caste and gender, would be evil and ultimately self-destructive. • Tragedy is not a mystery or seen as unfair, and theodicy is not really a problem to be solved. Evil always has a rational understandable cause….. you brought it on yourself (see p. 245)

  10. Monotheistic Theodicy • The problem: there’s only one God to blame, and he is supposed to be good, fair, just, all-powerful and merciful. • Does God allow evil? Can’t he prevent it? Does he cause it? (David Hume’s argument: p.247) Terms; Moral evil Natural evil God’s sovereignty, benevolence, providence. Can these characteristics of God and evil be true at the same time without contradictions?

  11. The Hebrew Bible’s book of Jobhas 4 theodicies to explain why the good may suffer • Suffering as punishment for sin • Suffering as a test or character building. • Suffering as a mystery: God has his reasons. Submit. • Anti-theodicy: don’t try to justify or explain evil. Be angry at God.

  12. The Free Will Defense • God chooses to gives us free will • Doing evil has to be an option for man, or he is not truly free to do good. • John Hick’s negative theodicy, p. 254.

  13. Process TheodicyAlfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne • Maybe God isn’t omnipotent. Maybe he is still “in process” and can’t really control absolutely everything. He is maybe as good and all knowing as possible, but he’s not yet perfect. • Upside: takes God off the hook for the problem of evil • Downside: Why trust God if he can’t defeat evil? Is such a being really what the West knows as God at all?

  14. Albert Camus (1948) The Plague :Theodicy concerning the death of Algerians in a plague from the 1840s

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