Saturday 14 August 2010

Audio talks on God and evil

I recently mentioned some talks I gave on God and evil. Although it looks like the quality is pretty poor, they've now uploaded the audio recordings.

And since I began the talks with Milton, I leave you with the timeless words of A. E. Housman:

And malt does more than Milton can
To justify God's ways to man.

5 Comments:

kim fabricius said...

Yeah, great Houseman couplet.

I've just been reading Toni Morrison's typically fiercely lyrical A Mercy, with this reflection on Job by one of the characters - a woman: that for Job

"a peek into Divine knowledge was less important than gaining, at last, the Lord's attention. Which, Rebekka concuded, was all Job ever wanted. Not proof of His existence - he never questioned that. Nor proof of His power - everyone accepted that. He simply wanted to catch His eye. To be recognized not as worthy or worthless, but to be noticed as a life-form by the One who made and unmade it. Not a bargain; merely a glow of the miraculous.

"But then Job was a man. Invisibility was intolerable to men. What complaint would a female Job dare to put forth? And if, having done so, and He deigned to remind her how weak and ignorant she was, where was the news in that? What shocked Job into humility and renewed fidelity was the message a female Job would have known and heard every minute of her life" (p. 89).

Which suffering? Whose theodicy?

byron smith said...

Ah, it depends which malt of course. Some of the blended malts in particular only raise the stakes in the problem of evil.

Ben Myers said...

Thanks Kim - that's a great reflection on Job.

Ben Simpson said...

Fantastic. Thanks for passing along these links, Ben.

spiltteeth said...

My essay 'Weep, Scream, Pray' based on prison and my personal experience of evil.

I wrote it after listening to your audio talks - thanks.

theaffirmingflame.blogspot.com/

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