Theodicy, Useless Suffering, and Compassionate Asymmetry: Primo Levi, Emmanuel Levinas, and Anti-Theodicy

Theodicy and Animals

It is widely acknowledged among those philosophers and theologians who have given the matter much thought that the fact of animal suffering challenges Theism in a distinctive way. Standard attempts to reconcile human suffering with a perfectly powerful and benevolent deity don’t seem to apply easily to the case of animals. Animals can hardly be said to deserve their suffering or be morally impr...

Theodicy and End-of-Life Care

This article examines theodicy-the vindication of God's goodness and justice in the face of the existence of evil from the perspectives of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. We focus on the thought processes that chaplains, social workers, and other professionals may use in their care interventions to address issues of theodicy for patients. Theodical issues may cause anxiety and distress for be...

Animal Souls, Metempsychosis, and Theodicy in Seventeenth- Century English Thought

The Minor Prophets as a Unity Developing Theodicy

Addressing a perennial apologetic and pastoral demand, the twelve Minor Prophets undertake to assert and demonstrate the goodness of God in the face of apparent evidence to the contrary. I will argue that the Twelve were intended to be read together and have the purpose of encouraging the post-exilic reader to trust Yahweh’s faithfulness to his salvation promises, even in the face of the many s...

Divine Exultation and Agony in the Face of Evil, a Creation Theodicy of Divine Restraint

Horrendous evil describes the anthropological view of excessive evils which devastate and dehumanise both victim and perpetrator, casting doubt as to whether life is worth living. Divine exultation and divine agony are viewed from the perspective of divinity, whose initial creation brought God pleasure and its fall an offence so deep that, though he considered its total destruction, God instead...