Friday, May 16, 2008

Warning: religion

Tonight's very distressing scenes on the television from the earthquake affected areas of China reminded me of a recent article at First Things, inspired by the recent Burma tragedy, about theodicy.

Wikipedia explains that theodicy is " a specific branch of theology and philosophy that attempts to reconcile the existence of evil or suffering in the world with the belief in an omniscient, omnipotent, and benevolent God, i.e., the problem of evil."

There are several ways a Christian can seek to explain the problem of evil, but I think I am probably now more inclined to take the Jewish/Kantian view, as explained in the Wikipedia article, that it is a bit presumptuous for humans to believe they can work it out at all.

Still, the First Things article I mentioned struck me as expressing very elegantly the emotional power of a theodicy that is based on a traditional Christian belief in real evil and a Fallen creation. It is written by David B Hart, said to be an Eastern Orthodox theologian, and while it is all worthwhile reading, the last paragraph sums it up nicely:
As for comfort, when we seek it, I can imagine none greater than the happy knowledge that when I see the death of a child I do not see the face of God, but the face of His enemy. It is not a faith that would necessarily satisfy Ivan Karamazov, but neither is it one that his arguments can defeat: for it has set us free from optimism, and taught us hope instead. We can rejoice that we are saved not through the immanent mechanisms of history and nature, but by grace; that God will not unite all of history’s many strands in one great synthesis, but will judge much of history false and damnable; that He will not simply reveal the sublime logic of fallen nature, but will strike off the fetters in which creation languishes; and that, rather than showing us how the tears of a small girl suffering in the dark were necessary for the building of the Kingdom, He will instead raise her up and wipe away all tears from her eyes — and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor any more pain, for the former things will have passed away, and He that sits upon the throne will say, “Behold, I make all things new.”
I feel a little sorry for people who have never felt the emotional appeal of such a belief system.

5 comments:

TimT said...

And here I was, thinking theodicy was merely a particularly idiotic strain of religious belief - Scientology, or such like!

Steve said...

I'm quite sure how to take that comment Tim. I therefore repeat my threat to accompany you to see Prince Caspian and beat you over the head with the omnibus edition of The Chronicles of Narnia until you say you like it.

TimT said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
TimT said...

Your comment appears to be missing a 'not'. And sure, so long as you pay for the tickets. Though I may have a little trouble reconciling the concept of a benevolent God with the concept of Steve beating me repeatedly over the head with a copy of the Chronicles of Narnia...

Steve said...

God works in mysterious ways, Tim.