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JFL, Active Learning Classroom (171)
Description
Only a few years have passed since the world experienced a unique manifestation of suffering brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. The problem of evil and suffering has always been a difficult topic to address for Christian pastors and theologians who have now been left to address this problem in the wake of the pandemic. In addition to the suffering from millions of lives being lost, studies have shown a correlation between the pandemic and a significant increase in mental illness in the United States. This is one data point among many instances that add to the uniqueness of the recent, heightened, and widespread existential problem of suffering produced by the pandemic. How, then, with the many existential sufferings caused by God’s allowance of the pandemic, can theologians meaningfully articulate hope and trust in God’s existence and goodness? While there are helpful insights that can be gleaned from the efforts of Christian theologians and philosophers to address these issues through history and even in the wake of the pandemic, a fuller and more integrative approach to the problem is needed. Such an approach to addressing the problem of existential suffering from evil should incorporate the best philosophical and theological arguments available as well as current psychological data points on suffering, such as data about the existential suffering caused by calamities like a pandemic. Additionally, the approach should be integrative in its method, grounded in biblical insights yet not neglecting the strongest theological and philosophical arguments of prevailing theodicies and defenses. Therefore, this paper argues that the problem of existential evil is best addressed with an integrative theodicy of the cross.
An Integrative Approach to the Existential Problem of Evil in a Post-Pandemic World
JFL, Active Learning Classroom (171)
Only a few years have passed since the world experienced a unique manifestation of suffering brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. The problem of evil and suffering has always been a difficult topic to address for Christian pastors and theologians who have now been left to address this problem in the wake of the pandemic. In addition to the suffering from millions of lives being lost, studies have shown a correlation between the pandemic and a significant increase in mental illness in the United States. This is one data point among many instances that add to the uniqueness of the recent, heightened, and widespread existential problem of suffering produced by the pandemic. How, then, with the many existential sufferings caused by God’s allowance of the pandemic, can theologians meaningfully articulate hope and trust in God’s existence and goodness? While there are helpful insights that can be gleaned from the efforts of Christian theologians and philosophers to address these issues through history and even in the wake of the pandemic, a fuller and more integrative approach to the problem is needed. Such an approach to addressing the problem of existential suffering from evil should incorporate the best philosophical and theological arguments available as well as current psychological data points on suffering, such as data about the existential suffering caused by calamities like a pandemic. Additionally, the approach should be integrative in its method, grounded in biblical insights yet not neglecting the strongest theological and philosophical arguments of prevailing theodicies and defenses. Therefore, this paper argues that the problem of existential evil is best addressed with an integrative theodicy of the cross.
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Doctorate