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This article examines narratives of coping strategies and worldviews adopted by Jewish Israeli atheists (JIA) during times of emotional turmoil. Through qualitative interviews with 30 participants, we demonstrate how they navigate between rational disbelief in God, Jewish identity, and their need for comfort. While valuing rational thinking, they find it insufficient for emotional solace. To cope, they create alternative ‘just-world’ cosmologies, use coded prayers, and draw on Jewish rituals, both revisiting and personalizing them. While the study of atheism often poses a binary logic that pits religious believers against atheists, religion against science and belief against doubt, our study reveals that for JIA these boundaries are far blurrier. Thus, this study contributes to the growing body of literature on lived atheism, highlighting the nuanced and often contradictory ways in which atheists engage with religious and spiritual concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that reflections on evil and its origin formed part of philosophical inquiry already in the times of the Presocratics. It considers only those thinkers whose contribution to the issue may be characterised as noteworthy: Anaximander, the Pythagoreans, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, and the Atomists. It is undeniable that none of the Presocratics presented an articulate theory of evil or a theodicy; therefore, the suggestions presented here are bound to remain conjectural. Still, it is my conviction that their fragments contain significant ideas related to evil's origins. Insofar as they turned their attention to the problem of evil, the Presocratics displayed the following tendencies: (a) they declined to ascribe the existence of evil to the will of the gods. Instead, (b) the emergence of badness was seen as instigated by the disruption of the primeval harmony (Anaximander), or (c) coeval opposed principles in constant struggle for dominance were posited, one of which was the cause of good, the other of evil (Pythagoreans and Empedocles). (d) Attempts were made to make good's existence dependent on the existence of evil or to declare the latter illusory (Heraclitus and Parmenides). (e) Emphasis was placed on the moral agents' personal responsibility for badness (Democritus). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I propose a defence against the problem of evil. This defence does not involve either free will or soul-making, but, rather, is intended as a replacement for the traditional theodicies. The defence will have two components: firstly, a proposal for why a good God would not intervene to eliminate the evil (natural or moral) in the world; and second, a proposal for why a good God would need to allow evil to exist in the world in the first place. I identify four desiderata for defences against the problem of evil and I argue that this new defence achieves all of these at least as well as traditional defences involving free will and/or soul-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the goal of explaining the maldistribution of evil in the world, Asha Lancaster-Thomas has recently (2023) expounded upon the idea of a fluctuating maximal God (FMG) that she and others developed (Jeffrey et al. (2020)) from the idea of a maximal God originally proposed by Yujin Nagasawa (2017). Lancaster-Thomas uses this model to answer what I and my co-author, Daniel Linford, have called the problem of geography (Linford and Patterson (2015)). The problem of geography points to the geographically unequal distribution of suffering in the world and argues that this aggravates the original problem of evil (POE) and undermines the primary theodicies offered as solutions to it. I subsequently (2021) added to this problem by pointing out that evil is also maldistributed across race, gender and time. This larger problem may be referred to as the problem of the distribution of evil (PODE). Lancaster-Thomas argues that the FMG, especially under her modified version, is not susceptible to the problem of geography or to temporal inequalities of well-being. In this article I will demonstrate how the FMG, even on Lancaster-Thomas? updated model, fails to undermine either the problem of geography or the more broadly conceived PODE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plantinga's free will defense is sometimes regarded as a successful response to the logical problem of evil. Still, a recent objection concludes Plantinga's defense and theodicy are incompatible. According to this objection, in Plantinga's defense, Jesus' having a creaturely essence entails that Jesus suffers from transworld depravity and sins in the actual world, but this result conflicts with Plantinga's theodicy and with Christian theism, where Jesus is sinless. In this paper, I argue that this objection is unsound, because creaturely essences suffer from transworld depravity only contingently, so it is not necessarily true that their instantiations go wrong in the actual world. Hence, Plantinga's defense and theodicy are not incompatible, so both answers to the problem of evil can be endorsed in conjunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given its roots in Christian theology, the usage of theodicy as an analytical tool in the study of religions can easily become controversial. This notwithstanding, several scholars in the field have instructively drawn upon the term to conceptually frame reactions to human suffering among religious actors in diverse contexts. This article aligns with this strand of scholarship and studies Persian-language sermons delivered in Iranian evangelical exile churches during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. It discusses four major theodicic interpretations advanced by Iranian evangelical pastors, who viewed the pandemic either as divine retribution, a ‘wake-up call’ for humankind, an opportunity for spiritual growth, or a theological lesson. Arguing that theodicies are shaped by the immediate context they emerge in, rather than by static theological paradigms, this article highlights the ex-Muslim identity and the exilic status of Iranian evangelicals in the diaspora as key factors shaping theodicy-making among them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis article is interested in entering the conversation at the intersection of Biblical studies of suffering and the experiences of those living with disabilities. It will begin by focusing on the suffering portrayed in the Book of Job, and more specifically his discourse with God in Job 7:17-20. In the story of Job, we find perhaps the central question of the human condition, the question of suffering. And, more profoundly, the question of unmerited suffering of the innocent, the good, the faithful. The scholarship around the Book of Job, and readers of Job throughout time, have reflected on this problem of theodicy: how can a good and loving God permit, even ordain, human suffering? This article is interested in a slightly different question, arising from engagement with Job 7:17-20. It will explore the question of divine attention in the form of disability, and how this attention is experienced first by Job and, in the latter part of the article, by individuals living with disabilities today. This article, through the voices of individuals living with disabilities, will evince that the presence of God is experienced by many not as divine surveillance or oppression, as we read in Job’s lament, but is instead a source of grace, healing and connection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary objective of this study is to offer an original interpretation in two fields of research: the first, of contemporary Jewish philosophy, and the second, to the continental and specifically deconstructionist method. I wish to achieve this by analysing a new deconstructionist text of the French, Jewish, post‐structuralist, feminist contemporary thinker—Hélène Cixous, which has thus far received little scholarly attention at all, and even less in its contributions to deconstructionism and Jewish philosophical thought. Focusing on this text, I concentrate on its Jewish and philosophical aspects—Gare d'Osnabrück à Jérusalem—The Osnabrück Station in/to Jerusalem.This study will centre on Cixous’ treatment of theodicy—the theological problem of evil and suffering—contextualising her position in the thought of the post‐war French cultural milieu of Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Derrida. I will examine the position Cixous develops on theodicy—which is to resist it, and move towards a position of anti‐theodicy. I show how she develops this position, which is through a deconstructionist and hermeneutical reading of the biblical figure of Job. I then trace further theological issues arising from her anti‐theodicy, of the roles of exile and return in this text—especially in Cixous’ positioning of Osnabrück as ‘Jerusalem’. The study is set alongside the ‘Hauntology’ theory of Jacques Derrida. I claim that Cixous’ work can be enhanced through a hauntological reading, but that she ultimately re‐defines this position to advance her own thinking. This study offers questions beyond this particular text: first, relating to the role of deconstructionism in portraying theological issues, especially theodicy, and second, of the contributions, complex as they may be, to contemporary Jewish philosophical discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this paper is to provide an account of Leibniz's engagement with the doctrine of cosmic dualism in his Theodicy, i.e., the view that there are two distinct fundamental principles that are responsible for the existence of the created world, one good and the other evil. Leibniz's discussion is primarily a response to arguments in favour of cosmic dualism that he finds in the writings of Pierre Bayle. However, in addition, he presents a genealogical argument that appears to be intended to provide reasons to reject the view. The paper also contains a critical discussion of Leibniz's case, and finishes by drawing attention to some issues which arise that are worthy of further consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout his correspondence and writings, Leibniz made a number of passing references to the religion of the Mohammadans (Islam) and to several Islamic commentators. Recent literature on these references has placed them in the context of Leibniz's political and historical interests that largely reflect his Eurocentric prejudices. The purpose of this paper is to extract a more detailed and systematic view of Leibniz's knowledge of and interest in the religion, through Leibniz's remarks on Islam in relation to Christian doctrines such as the Trinity and the Incarnation, through the commentary of Maimonides and the Christian Averroists, and through a (partly speculative) comparison of three types of theodicy. The paper concludes that while Leibniz knew very little about Islam's actual doctrines, and that he was subject to the prejudicial views of his time, he understood Islam, as he did Christianity, as largely in conformity with natural (rational) religion. At the same time, his interest in its specific doctrines was primarily instrumental, that is, as correctives to certain abusive practices and misunderstandings persisting within Christianity, which could then explain for him why Islam prevailed in the East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the Post-Traumatic Growth (PTG) literature does not support the claim, made most notably by Eleonore Stump, that suffering tends to promote psychic integration that allows for interpersonal closeness with God (or others). Two strains of argument support this conclusion. First, there are problems internal to PTG research, identified by psychologists and bioethicists in the field, that call the strength and reliability of the findings into question. Second, even if successful in what it purports to do, the PTG literature does not support the conclusions that Stump draws from it. Finally, given that we live in a culture that both prizes and moralizes positivity, often at the expense of sufferers, applying this research in prescriptive and normative ways inappropriately circumscribes the post-traumatic journeys of trauma survivors. Before turning to these arguments, I begin by briefly describing the long-term suffering that trauma can inflict in the forms of post-traumatic stress disorder and other physical and mental health effects. This section illustrates the challenge that trauma poses for the projects of theodicy and defence and provides the backdrop against which the PTG literature must be read. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Beytulhikme: An International Journal of Philosophy is the property of Beytulhikme: An International Journal of Philosophy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Stephen King’s novel Revival (2014) takes after Robertson Davies’s novel Fifth Business (1975), the first book of the Deptford trilogy, although the name of the Canadian writer is significantly missing from the list of King’s acknowledgements. The paper is focused on the comparative analysis of the two novels, the starting point being the category of “fi fth business” borrowed by S. King from R. Davis. A comparative analysis of the topos of a small town in the texts of both authors is undertaken to show that for both Davis and King the category of the “fi fth business” acquires a structure-generating function: the foregrounding of a walk-on, a “little man” as a semantic center correlates with the main topos of both novels. It is concluded that such sociological features of small-town life as cohesion of the community life, empathy towards neighbors, relative eventlessness and scarcity of social dynamics (according to R. Wuthnow) influence the plotline, temporal structure, narrative strategies and character interactions. Besides, the topos of a small town induces specific modes of psychological analysis: Stephen King explores town folk’s behavior in critical situations, while Robertson Davies traces the process of individuation of his personages. Small-town life as the central theme also leads to a remarkable synthesis of religious pursuits and the intermediary quality as the environment in which they are actualized

This study of Paradise Lost , interpreted through the lens of John Milton's treatise De doctrina Christiana , argues that the poet seeks to breathe new life into the tropes of orthodox Christian theodicy by radicalising concepts chosen eclectically from both Reformed and Arminian schools of thought, integrating them within the patchwork of his own idiosyncratic heterodoxies and thus catalysing a fundamentally new theology propelled by his narrative priorities. This approach makes the drama that Milton intuits itself the driver of dogma, which drama allows him to bring God and reader into the same story, under the spell of his own theodical narration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document delves into the realms of Process Theology, especially emphasizing David Ray Griffin's pivotal role in reshaping our understanding of the divine. Rejecting the classical depiction of God as an omnipotent and omniscient entity, it advocates for a portrayal of God as deeply involved in the evolutionary process of the universe. This approach marks a significant shift from traditional theism, proposing instead a reciprocal relationship between God and creation, where influence is mutual rather than one-directional. Process theology is notable for its application of process philosophy, which views the universe as a series of ephemeral 'actual occasions'. These instances embody the interplay between being shaped by past events and navigating towards future self-determination. Griffin's introduction of panexperientialism further extends this narrative, suggesting that all entities, however simple, engage in a form of experiential existence, thereby challenging the traditional binaries of consciousness and volition. The relationship between the characteristics of the divine and the freedom afforded to creatures is carefully examined. Griffin posits a God whose modus operandi is relational and evolutionary, promoting a model of divine interaction that favors persuasion over coercion. This innovative perspective sheds light on the nature of theodicy, portraying a God who empathizes with the plight of creatures, thus affirming the significance of free will and the capacity for goodness amidst challenges. Griffin's rendition of Process Theology offers a refreshing narrative that reconciles the presence of evil with a benevolent divine essence, presenting God as an integral part of creation's fabric. It paints a universe where divine love, creaturely autonomy, and the complexities of existence are closely knit, offering a hopeful and empathetic view on the divine's role in the cosmic saga. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leibniz's jurisprudence and theory of natural law, which began development as early as the 1660s, has implications for his mature theodicy. In this essay, it is shown that based on an analysis of a few key jurisprudential texts, the Nova Methodus (1666), the Elementa Juris Naturalis (1670–1671), and the Codex Juris Gentium Diplomaticus (1693), Leibniz developed the legal term 'obligatio' from Roman Law and the Spanish Jesuit traditions, but that his usage shifted at different stages of his life. Nevertheless, these views are compatible and provide a grounding for his philosophical optimism. It is further shown that Leibniz took the concept of obligatio to provide something like legal standing (locus standi or klagebefugnis) so that rational minds can undergo the theodicean project, that is, because God has obligations to substances, they can seek an explanation for their suffering from God. And because human reason is analogous to divine reason, according to Leibniz, God provides the explanation that the actual world is the best possible world. The goal, then, is to prove that we should take Leibniz's insights into jurisprudence more seriously, at least in part, because they help to explain his philosophical optimism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gregory Boyd explains the long history of evolution and all suffering that results from it—as well as suffering that results from other natural phenomena—by appealing to an angelic fall through which demonic meddling warps the original, divinely-intended lawlike regularity of the cosmos. With this position, Boyd aims to exonerate God in the face of all evil, which for Boyd includes all forms of suffering. While Boyd's cosmic warfare theodicy is more thoroughly developed than any other to date and embraces certain scientific evidence about the world in a way that other fall-based theodicies do not, I argue that it nonetheless falls short of a viable theological worldview since it relies upon special pleading and ad hoc premises and ultimately presents an inconsistent system of belief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article argues that religion is a classic theme of sociology, present in the three founding fathers of the discipline, and in Simmel, although the latter is being revisited as a canon of the discipline. Initially, we explore religion in Marx's thought, beyond the famous phrase "the opium of the people". Then, we approach Durkheim and his search for the structures of religion, but we emphasize the limit of his understanding of the religious phenomenon linked to an institution, something that the concept of religiosity presented by Simmel can help in the understanding of contemporary phenomena, such as Young people without Religion in Brazil. In Weber, we look at definitions of protagonists of the sacred, as well as the problem of theodicy. At the end, we approach the Bourdiesian synthesis of the classics to develop the concept of religious field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues against the "free will theodicy" for hell. It demonstrates how St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas considered this theodicy to be Pelagian and opposed to divine transcendence. It is shown that by claiming that God cannot cause the conversion of sinners without violating their freedom, the free will theodicy denies divine omnipotence, empties divine predestination of meaning, undermines the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo, and implicitly abandons key tenets of classical theism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of contemporary mass atrocities and the search for justice, we offer a contemporary reading of the Book of Lamentations—a heartbreaking poem about a devastated city—through the witness of Edith Stein, a Jewish Catholic philosopher, educator, feminist, and Carmelite martyr of the Holocaust. Stein's own story of suffering gender and racial discrimination and her writings on empathy can help readers enter the world of Lamentations with compassion for those who bear the pain of acute injustice. In addition, her devotion in prayer and worship to the crucified and risen Christ as a Carmelite nun can help us find meaning in suffering. In her writings and witness, she teaches us that God's faithfulness does not abandon us to evil and that his unfailing love rescues us and transforms us into people of compassion and hope in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to illustrate the dialogues on the issues of theodicy in late Ming Fujian. The Catholicism that entered China in the late Ming dynasty had a competitive relationship with indigenous religions in terms of their meaning systems. Catholicism emphasized the omniscience, omnibenevolence, and omnipotence of God, which created tensions and contradictions with the reality of phenomena such as the suffering of good people and the existence of evil. In the late Ming period, scholars, believers, and missionaries in the Fujian region engaged in deep exchanges and dialogues on theodicy, reflecting the significant attention and consideration given to the problem of evil. This paper first analyzes the dialogues on theodicy between the Fujian scholar Ye Xianggao (1559–1627) and the missionary Giulio Aleni (1582–1649). Next, it explores the discussions on the problem of evil between ordinary believers in the Fujian region and Giulio Aleni in their daily lives. Finally, it examines how anti-Catholics used the problem of evil to criticize Catholicism, and it also identifies the characteristics and impacts of Catholic theodicy in the late Ming and early Qing periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polio memoirs reflect the lived religious experiences of those who survived the disease in the mid-twentieth century. These autobiographical writings draw connections between theodicy, gender, profession, and disability. American Catholic women who survived polio and who wrote about it often viewed their suffering in relationship to a divine calling and frequently connected their vocational choices to the reason for their disability. In part because Catholic women’s religious-cultural contexts defined appropriate career pursuits by prizing service careers and the work of vowed religious, American Catholic women polio survivors entered helping professions, including special education and rehabilitative therapy careers, at higher rates than their male counterparts or non-Catholic women. American Catholic polio survivors and the cultural-religious milieu in which they lived offered opportunities to cultivate understandings of suffering, disability, and service—and new ways of narrating these understandings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a construal of God's action in the Joban prologue (Job 1-2) that is theologically consistent and exegetically compelling. Articulated by Thomas Aquinas, a traditional theological account of God's orientation toward evil affirms that God only permits evil; he never wills the evil itself nor is its direct cause. Despite such theological boundaries but based on certain exegetical evidence, many interpreters affirm or imply God's culpability in desiring or directly causing Job's suffering. Those who defend God's action do so with valid theological conclusions but on an insufficient exegetical basis. I retrieve theological concepts from Thomas Aquinas while correcting several of his exegetical conclusions about Job 1-2. Specifically, I propose that Job 1:10 is the interpretive key that signifies that God is the efficient cause of removing the hedge around Job and the permissive cause of Job's calamities. This proposal allows God to be both narratively active and ontologically perfect, thus satisfying both exegetical and theological concerns. Far from being an interpretive problem, Job 1:10 serves as a textual grounding for the perfection of God's action in his causal relationship to evil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theist needs a conception of the distinction between doing and allowing because much of the literature focused on the problem of evil attempts to justify (via theodicy) or defend (via defence) God's allowing evil to occur. I present a counterfactual account of the doing/allowing distinction in the divine context and argue that, even if there are compelling objections to counterfactual accounts of the distinction in the human context, they do not work against such an account in the divine context. The counterfactual analysis to follow will allow the theist to plausibly claim that God does not ever bring about evil, which is crucial to some defences against the problem of evil. I conclude by defending my account against possible objections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We live in an Apocalyptic Era, in frustrated disappointed and enraged societies that have lost the future. Eternity has become an outcast and salvation in the afterlife is no longer a leading quest. In short, we live the end of the centrality of the concept of theodicy. The conjunction of the crisis in religious socialization mechanisms and those of secular socialization is what largely generates this widespread disappointment. The idea of Apocalypse, historically related to condemnations and Manichean visions, has returned with force to our contemporary societies through new forms of exclusion and discrimination in populist regimes relating to popular religiosity. The role of sociology of religions is to assess the current social disappointment and demystification of the future and at the same time distinguish and warn about the political processes of reproduction and representation of contemporary apocalypses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Con-textos Kantianos: International Journal of Philosophy is the property of Con-Textos Kantianos (CTK) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Tasavvur: Tekirdag Theology Journal / Tekirdag Ilahiyat Dergisi is the property of Namik Kemal University, Faculty of Theology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Auschwitz had a profound impact on the theological landscape. It led to God’s lordship, goodness and power being put on trial. If God exists and if he is a good and powerful God, why did he not intervene to stop the atrocities committed during the Holocaust? The theologies of the Jewish philosopher Hans Jonas and the Christian theologian Jürgen Moltmann were decisively structured by these questions. Contribution: This article compares the theodicies of these two influential thinkers within the Jewish and Christian traditions by analysing their concepts of God, the nature of the cosmos and human history as well as their respective views on God’s response to suffering. Despite showing appreciation for profound insights, this article points out impasses in their arguments. Drawing on a reformed approach to the question, the article concludes that the anthropodicy question is the real elephant in the room, not the theodicy question. Instead of asking questions about God’s goodness, Reformed theology posits the incomprehensibility of human beings turning against God. We must ask: How does it happen that a self-conscious being possessing innate moral capacities, such as moral emotions and vicarious intersubjective capabilities, rebels against God and engage in atrocious acts? Seen from this perspective, the theodicy question seems to be undergirded by the human propensity to moral disengagement and blame-shifting. Perhaps, instead of putting God on trial, humans must resort to introspection.

Recent theological interpretations of entropy are almost univocally negative. Entropy is used as a stand-in for disorder, corruption, and evil. Responding to three reasons to correlate entropy and evil, this paper will argue instead that entropy is a good-but-fallen creaturely reality with a role to play in inspiring doxology. This paper argues that both entropy and heat death should be interpreted primarily in light of the doctrines of creation and providence, not eschatology and theodicy. Finally, Christian practices of figural interpretation are employed to interpret even heat death as an edifying phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The popular Left Behind series has been credited with mainstreaming dispensational premillennialism, or fragments of that ideology, in U.S. popular culture. The less popular, but critically acclaimed HBO series The Leftovers, based on the novel of the same name by Tom Perrotta, attests to the ideology's popularity while defamiliarizing its notions of Rapture and Messiah/Antichrist. While Left Behind apologizes for the ideology and strives to make the metanarrative's identity attractive, entertaining, and thrilling, The Leftovers takes a "not quite" Rapture as its "what if" fictional starting point. The result embraces mystery, rather than apologetic certainty, and ordinary human life, rather than the supernatural. Fulfilled prophecy becomes confusion, coping, and possibly delusion. The metanarrative becomes unstuck fragments. Election (exceptional national and individual identities), miracle, and messiah are demythologized. Theodicy occurs only on a human level. At the same time, however, The Leftovers takes its "what if" seriously and sympathetically. Despite skepticism, its characters also understand the appeal of Rapture, Messiah, and the like as they too look for something sacred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will offer a new defense in response to the problem of natural evil, called the Perfect Will defense. The defense argues that in sustaining the universe, God conforms the system of physical laws to his intellect and will. Yet, God could not fully conform the system of laws (for our universe) to his intellect and will without simultaneously forcing people into a loving relation with God. Yet, since God would not force people to love him, God must thereby initially create people in a universe that has a system of laws that is only partially conformed to God's intellect and will. However, while a universe with a system of laws that is only partially conformed to God's intellect and will allows for people to exercise their freedom over their relation with God, it also results in the occurrence of natural evils. The paper will argue that once this defense is fully developed, it is able to account for why God allows for natural evils to occur within the universe. The paper will outline the defense, as well as respond to the defense's major objections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses Moses Maimonides' account of the AfterDeath and, more specifically, of olam ha-ba' (lit.: the world to come), the state of ultimate human happiness and perfection (in contrast to this world). Maimonides is unequivocal about what olam ha-ba' is not. Contrary to a competing medieval Jewish tradition, it is utterly incorporeal and, contrary to rabbinic tradition, it is not a motivational reward nor compensation for undeserved suffering in a theodicy. Instead, Maimonides gives two positive accounts of the metaphysics of olam ha-ba'. The first is an intellectualist account on which the denizens of olam ha-ba' are perfected intellects engaged in intellectual apprehension of the deity. The second is sceptical: it denies that humans have any understanding or knowledge ('ilm , episteme) of olam ha-ba' and claims that all language used to describe it is purely equivocal or homonymous, although it allows that some immutable thing, whatever it is, survives death. Instead of being a motivational reward or compensation, olam ha-ba' is the end, that is, final cause or telos, of the best possible human life in this world at which one aims and which one attempts to approximate even if one cannot actually realize it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article builds on and supplements an earlier one in this journal about theodicy. It focuses on species extinctions and on the possible role of humanity as fallible co-creators. Christopher Southgate has suggested that co-creators might shoulder the task of curtailing extinctions. In appraising this view, I distinguish between extinctions resulting from evolution, which humans have limited power to reverse, but which are held to be indispensable for the evolution of complexity, consciousness and self-consciousness, and those caused by humanity itself, which humans should reduce, even if they cannot be halted. Human creativity, however, extends further to the development of skills, trades, the arts and literature. Church Fathers, such as Ambrose, Theodoret and Cosmas Indicopleustes, held that God left the creation incomplete so that humanity could enhance it; certainly, human creativity has introduced agriculture, navigation, technology and culture, adding to the value of the world. Granted belief in creation, this can be understood as co-creation. Granted the value that humanity continues to add to the world, the belief that such creativity flows from the creator's overall plan emerges as a coherent one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the second half of the 20th century, missiology has continued to elevate Missio Dei to a topic of the highest importance in theology. According to Missio Dei, the salvific mission is more theocentric than anthropocentric in that its actuality is wholly rooted in the nature of God. However, much work remains to be conducted to evaluate and reconcile the modern interpretation of the Missio Dei and its predecessor theological doctrines, to avoid illogicalities. Consequently, the responsibility to identify any discrepancies in the systematic knowledge of the Missio Dei falls on the broad shoulders of theology in general, but of missiology in particular. In keeping with this unavoidable intellectual duty, this article interrogates the literature on modern theodicies to improve the conceptualization of the Missio Dei and missionary God in the context of evil and human suffering. The inter-comparative analysis of the biblical Job serves to relate divine perfection and human suffering within process theodicy. Consequently, the intellectual enterprise of this work, with all its shortcomings, not only illuminates another facet of Missio Dei but also motivates further investigation to reconcile mission Dei with the reality of evil, free will, and human suffering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a response to Zain Ali's critique in this journal of our presentation of a 'right relationship' normatively relativised 'logical' Argument from Evil. Our argument aims to show that the existence of horrendous evils (as defined by Marilyn Adams) is incompatible with the existence of the personal omniGod (a person or personal being who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and perfectly good), given certain reasonable judgments about what a personal God's perfect goodness would imply about the way God relates to those caught up in horrendous evils. We reply to Ali's main criticism that our assumptions about divine goodness are unjustified, and show a lack of intellectual humility. We defend the claim that, if God is a person, then God's goodness is moral goodness according to our best human theory of what that implies. We accept that God's situation as creator and sustainer of all that exists may justify 'divine exceptionalism': God's personal moral goodness may be consistent with ways of relating to others that would fall far short of perfection in human-to-human relationships. But in that case, we argue, intellectual humility may be better served by accepting that God is so exceptional that God should not be understood as a person at all, which is the prevailing Muslim view, as Ali himself acknowledges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of how realism and metanarratives are related in the philosophy of history does not seem to have been widely discussed. Whereas there are distinct philosophical and political senses of 'realism', contrasting with 'idealism' and 'utopianism' respectively, 'metanarrative' has a singular meaning based on Jean-François Lyotard's sceptical definition of postmodernism as "incredulity towards metanarratives". Lyotard defined metanarratives as philosophies of history that serve some legitimatory function, but claimed that their importance was waning. From this point of view, postmodernism can be described as a species of philosophical 'realism'. But the appearance of Francis Fukuyama's 'end of history' thesis, which explicitly presented itself as a neo-Hegelian critique of political realism, suggested that Lyotard had underestimated the enduring power of metanarrative insofar as it served the interests of the American liberal-democratic capitalist order. For Jacques Derrida, Fukuyama's work thus underlined the importance of breaking with what he called 'onto-theological' visions of history, although Derrida himself could be seen as authoring a metanarrative in the service of European social democracy. But if so, Derrida's approach to metanarratives was very different in kind to contemporary religious and nationalistic versions. One way to resolve the difficulty is to make a distinction between modern 'utopian' and postmodern 'realist' versions of metanarratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some philosophers of religion have argued that moral anti-theodicy begs the question. This paper evaluates the arguments from two such philosophers, writing a decade apart—Robert Mark Simpson, and Lauri Snellman. Simpson argues that any global argument against theodicy must allow for the possibility of there existing a plausible theodicy, and that anti-theodical arguments (the argument from insensitivity, the argument from detachment, and the argument from harmful consequences) all implicitly discount this possibility, thus ending up begging the question. Snellman argues that moral anti-theodicies presuppose that some evils cannot be justified, which would presuppose that theodicy is false from the start, which in turn would beg the question against theodicy. The author of the paper argues that Simpson's arguments rest on an erroneous assumption regarding the nature of anti-theodicy, and that one of Simpson's arguments sets a problematic standard for argumentation that the author argues we should not accept. It is also argued that Snellman's argument relies on an unsupported claim from Toby Betenson. Therefore, the author concludes that Simpson and Snellman have not managed to show that moral anti-theodicies beg the question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contrary to much of the commentary tradition, the book of Job is not primarily a discourse on how to properly speak (or withhold speech) about God in the midst of innocent suffering, nor is it aimed primarily at offering up the character of Job as an exemplar of how to suffer correctly (or incorrectly). Neither is it a treatise about human submission to (or rebellion from) God's mysterious sovereign prerogative in permitting evil. It is instead a theological exploration of the dilemmas and demands of consolation that confront us given the inexplicable enormities of human suffering. Its unifying aim is to confront us with multiple voices that pull us into an open-ended—and decidedly pessimistic—reflection on what innocent suffering reveals to us about our creaturely limits and the fragility of our hope in God, features of the human condition that require our capacities for compassion to exceed our capacities for theological sense-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides an analysis of the impact of Mami-Wata spirituality on an understanding of the place and fate of Christianity in Africa today. A section of the Christian population negotiates their Christian beliefs through the prism of their traditional African religious cosmology and worldviews. This new Christian African spirituality is generating waves of faith crises. While previous scholarship has investigated the crises of African Christian faith from the dominant point of view of African culture and context, from Christian-Muslim interaction, or from the influence of Western elements, there are no works that show the multidimensional impacts of Mami-Wata spirituality on Christians and their faith, identity, and theological discourses. Departing from past works, the present work investigates how rudimentary constructs of African spirituality have engaged Christianity on several fronts, from the problem of faith crisis and the engagement of the Mami-Wata deity to how some African Christians wrestle with their devotion to the Virgin Mary vis-à-vis the traditional Mami-Wata deity. This analysis also demonstrates the indispensability of the female divine in spiritual and religious discourses, and it provides a pathway to construct a theology that is both truly Christian and grounded in African realities. [End Page 157] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to its domineering Western and Christian influence, philosophy of religion, as a discipline, is hesitant or reluctant to entertain arguments on similar subjects from non-Western and non-Christian traditions even when these traditions may have answers to problems or issues in the discipline. Of these problems, the present research will limit its scope to theodicy. Whereas the problem continues to encounter endless debates and attempts to reconciling a loving, powerful and knowledgeable Deity with the existence of natural and moral evils in the world, the lack of coherence in that tradition of thought cannot be said for "Yorùbá theology". Through the method of philosophical and hermeneutical analyses, the effort of this research is to unpack the process underpinning of "Yorùbá theology" which helps in formulating a coherent understanding of the reality of evil in the presence of a good, loving and wise "Olódùmaré" that is void of Satan/Devil. On this note, this research submits, having used Yorùbá process theology as paradigm, that the debate over the problem of evil in mainstream tradition of philosophy of religion may be resolved if non-Western and non-Christian traditions are invited into the discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper argues that, despite appearance to the contrary, Kierkegaard's writings offer promising argumentational resources for addressing the problem of evil. According to Kierkegaard, however, in order to make use of these resources at all, one must necessarily be willing to shift the battleground, so to speak: from a third- to a genuine first-person perspective, namely the perspective of what Climacus dubs Religiousness A. All (yet also only) those who seek deliberate self-annihilation before God—a God in relation to whom they perceive themselves always in the wrong—shall discover the ideal that an unwavering and in fact unconditional thankfulness (namely, for being forgiven) is to be considered the only appropriate attitude towards God and as such both necessary and sufficient for coming to terms with evil and suffering, at least in the life of someone making that discovery. I will argue that Kierkegaard's (non-)pseudonymous writings provide reasons, at times unwittingly, for adopting the perspective of Religiousness A; however, I will also and ultimately argue that the principle of infinite thankfulness as a corollary of that perspective flounders when it comes to making sense of (the eschatological implications of) the suffering of others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biblical motif of the remnant appears in prophetic oracles of restoration to address problems of theodicy in covenant religion. This essay argues that the category of trace in the work of Jacques Derrida and other modern thinkers provides a conceptual model for the biblical remnant and that theories of the trace belong to biblical tradition. The remnant and the trace share dynamics of past and future, presence and absence, with respect to history, language, and texts. By examining the remnant motif in Micah and other books of the Hebrew Bible together with the category of trace in modern thought, the essay identifies an approach to time in biblical prophets distinct from historical, sacred, or messianic time. And by examining "trace" in the work of Derrida and others, the essay also demonstrates the biblical inheritance of modern theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most Pentecostals, at least in the global South, believe that Satan and his demonic forces are responsible for much of the carnage and suffering that characterise life on earth. The broader context of the discourse is the challenge theodicy poses to Christian believers: if God is almighty and good, why do believers, just like unbelievers, suffer while living on earth? This paper aims to discuss Pentecostals' response: they blame evil as Satan's strategy to oppose God. They reason that his main goal is to handicap and double-cross creation because God threw him and his followers from heaven following his rebellion against the divine order. Thus, Satan is portrayed as the instigator of the first human couple, tempting them to sin, with all future generations implied by their choice and cursing human beings with a sinful nature at birth. Demonic forces employ human sinful nature to realise their ultimate goal, to separate humankind from the Creator by tempting them to sin while also threatening the rest of creation. This article investigates the Pentecostal theology of demonic forces in explaining the challenges posed by theodicy by comparing it to biblical data, using grammatical-historical exegesis and a comparative literature survey to evaluate their biblical grounding. It concludes that Pentecostals' belief in such forces are justified if the the New Testament narratives are accepted as divine revelation. However, some Pentecostal speculations about demons' origins, scope and reach are not biblically justified and complicates the response to theodicy, such as the origin of evil and its relation to human beings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jung's view of God as a unity of Christ and Antichrist was rejected by Western theological circles, but a convergence can be found in Chinese Buddhist thought. Both Jungian psychology and Tiantai Buddhism believe that evil is intrinsic to the nature of God/Buddha, which is actually a manifestation of human nature. Only a God/Buddha with a paradoxical and antinomial character could provide a logical explanation for the paradox of the existence of evil and a Supreme Being. And both suggest that for the well-being of the human psyche, people should recognize evil and integrate it into a pursuit of good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although scholars have long recognized that classical Stoicism affected Walt Whitman's work, a full account of the extent of this debt has yet to be produced. Although he drew inspiration from many sources, we argue that Whitman's "spinal ideas"—the ontological, moral, metaphysical and political threads of order in his thinking—are most consistently Stoic in origin. We do so by examining Whitman's poetry, prose, correspondence, manuscripts, notebooks, and autobiography in the context of the primary and secondary Stoic material with which he was familiar. We demonstrate that a number of ideas at the heart of Whitman's literary vision—his pantheism, materialism, cosmopolitanism, reconciliation of evil and death, and conceptions of both providence and virtue—were strongly indebted to Stoic thought. As background to this argument, we first explore the transmission of Stoicism to America and its reception among American readers. We also show how and why Whitman came under the influence of Stoic teachings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the scope of this article, I interpret the Book of Job through Martin Buber's concept of dialogue. The Book of Job continues to pose unanswerable inquiries concerning the enigma of human suffering, the benevolence of God and the elusive origins of Evil. Rather than attempting to provide definitive answers to these eternal questions, I have chosen to shift the focus of my interpretation towards a process of dialogue itself, for I believe that within the pages of the Book of Job, the dialogue assumes a pivotal role. I create a dialogue between Martin Buber's philosophical essay, I and Thou, and the Book of Job in the interpretive process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]