The Book Of Theodicy

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.

Why does God permit evil and suffering? This question, known as the problem of evil in theological and philosophical circles, has perennially vexed Christian theology. Academic studies on the problem of evil, however, have failed to move the conversation forward in recent years. In this volume, designed for students and scholars alike, Mark S. M. Scott traces the major models and motifs in Christian explanations for evil (called theodicies) and argues for a thorough rethinking of the problem of evil and theodicy based on distinctly Christian theological criteria and resources.

This volume explores the themes of theodicy and hope in both individual portions of the Twelve (books and sub-sections) and in the Book of the Twelve as a whole, as the contributors use a diversity of approaches to the text(s) with a particular interest in synchronic perspectives. While these essays regularly engage the mostly redactional scholarship surrounding the Book of Twelve, there is also an examination of various forms of literary analysis of final text forms, and engagement in descriptions of the thematic and theological perspectives of the individual books and of the collection as a whole. The synchronic work in these essays is thus in regular conversation with diachronic research, and as a general rule they take various conclusions of redactional research as a point of departure. The specific themes, theodicy and hope, are key ideas that have provided the opportunity for contributors to explore individual books or sub-sections within the Twelve, and the overarching development (in both historical and literary terms) and deployment of these themes in the collection.

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

The question of God's relationship to evil is a long-running one in the history of Christianity, and the term often deployed for this task has been theodicy. The way theodicy has historically been pursued, however, has been problematic on a number of counts. Most significantly, these efforts have generally been insufficiently theological. This work hopes to subvert and reconfigure the theodical task in a way that can be accessible to nonspecialists. Overall, the book hopes to cast the "god" of theodicy as the triune God of Christian confession, a move that shapes and alters distinctly all that follows in what has traditionally been considered a philosophical matter.

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.

In A Theodicy of Hell Charles Seymour tackles one of the most difficult problems facing the western theistic tradition: to show the consonance between eternal punishment and the goodness of God. Medieval theology attempted to resolve the dilemma by arguing that any sin, no matter how slight, merits unending torment. Contemporary thinkers, on the other hand, tend to eliminate the retributive element from hell entirely. Combining historical breadth with detailed argumentation, the author develops a novel understanding of hell which avoids the extremes of both its traditional and modern rivals. He then surveys the battery of objections ranged against the possibility of eternal punishment and shows how his `freedom view of hell' can withstand the attack. The work will be of particular importance for those interested in philosophy of religion and theology, including academics, students, seminarians, clergy, and anyone else with a personal desire to come to terms with this perennially challenging doctrine.

Concerned with the serious intellectual and moral questions that evil presents to religious believers. Each essay is given a critique by the other contributors: John Roth, John Hick, David Griffen, Frederick Sontag, and Stephen Davis.