Learning Theodicy

This volume deals with theodicy as a subject-matter for religious education. In order to enable people to reflect on the theodicy issue, to deal with their religious doubts and perhaps even to cope with suffering, it is very important that religious education is attentative to the problem of evil. But is it possible to ‘learn’ theodicy? And, if so, what does ‘learning’ mean in this respect? What kind of aims and objectives are desirable and attainable here? These theoretical issues are addressed in the first part of this book. The second part reports on empirical research conducted on the effects of an experimental theodicy course designed for third grade students of lower level secondary schools. As the research findings indicate, it is indeed possible to ‘learn’ something about theodicy.

This publication contains a practical-theological study on the problem of theodicy as a subject-matter for religious education. It offers new insights on how the problem of evil may be dealt with in the classroom.

Revises the traditional free will defense regarding the existence of evil in the world of a loving God.

Born in Egypt in 882, Saadiah Gaon was the first systematic philosopher of Judaism, the father of both scientific biblical exegesis and Jewish philosophic philosophy. In this book, L.E. Goodman presents the first English translation of Saadiah's important Book of Theodicy, a commentary on the Book of Job. Goodman's translation preserves Saadiah's penetrating naturalism, tenacity of theme and argument, and sensitivity to the nuances of poetic language.

If God is all powerful and entirely good and loving, why is there so much evil in the world? Based on a close canonical reading of Scripture, this book offers a new approach to the challenge of reconciling the Christian confession of a loving God with the realities of suffering and evil. John Peckham offers a constructive proposal for a theodicy of love that upholds both the sovereignty of God and human freedom, showing that Scripture points toward a framework for thinking about God's love in relation to the world.

In this 1710 treatise, Gottfried Liebniz's only book-length work, he applies the idea of philosophical "optimism"-that we live in the best of all possible worlds-to the "problem of evil"-If a benevolent God exists, why do terrible things happen? He explores the possibility that humanity's happiness is not necessarily part of God's plan. Much of Leibniz's thinking in the realm of the sciences flowed from his philosophy-he believed the universe to operate under simple, intelligible, interconnected rules. Understanding how he approached the metaphysical world and humanity's place in it is vital to understanding his contributions to modern science. The impact of the work of German mathematician GOTTFRIED WILHELM LEIBNIZ (1646-1716) on modern science and technology is all but incalculable. His notation for infinitesimal calculus-which he developed independently of Newton-remains in use today, and his invention of binary counting is the basis for modern computing. He was a powerfully influential philosopher as well, and is still considered, alongside Descartes and Spinoza, one of the great 17th-century rationalists.

Drawing on Islamic as well as Christian sources, David Burrell provocatively shows that Job does not explain the problem of evil.

Revises the traditional free will defense regarding the existence of evil in the world of a loving God.