tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post2729076469342552417..comments2024-03-25T13:40:30.747-04:00Comments on Faith and Theology: Teaching theodicy: a sketchBen Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03800127501735910966noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-77508603696209579742015-04-29T11:15:05.857-04:002015-04-29T11:15:05.857-04:00I think Balthasar's theology of Holy Saturday ...I think Balthasar's theology of Holy Saturday is helpful in this regards as well. Briannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-62309620166078194612015-04-27T05:01:35.489-04:002015-04-27T05:01:35.489-04:00Heidi,
Thank you for your thoughtful comment. Of ...Heidi,<br /><br />Thank you for your thoughtful comment. Of course, I agree with most of what you say here. I don't suggest (nor do I mean to) that "there is no one to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows."<br /><br />Perhaps "meaning" is not quite the right word to use. What I mean to say is that Christ's suffering does not provide the moral answer to the problem of evil. Indeed, if anything, it intensifies the problem, since we find that the incarnate Son of God also cries out in despair and grief. If Christ knows what it means to suffer, then all the more reason for God to do something about it! But in pastoral care we encounter people suffering deep despair over the apparent absence of God and the lack of moral balance in the world. It might be that the suffering of Christ enables a person to persevere through pain, but we should be hesitant to demand that they see their suffering as morally intelligible.Steve Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04600219630505650612noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-10467630251842350712015-04-25T10:16:30.544-04:002015-04-25T10:16:30.544-04:00Honestly, I passed right over that bullet point.
Y...Honestly, I passed right over that bullet point.<br />Yes, I have to agree with Heidi. Some clarification is needed.briannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-49716267513752997522015-04-24T19:36:03.408-04:002015-04-24T19:36:03.408-04:00Dear Mr. Wright --
'Christ’s suffering is rea...Dear Mr. Wright --<br /><br />'Christ’s suffering is real and particular, which is why it does not provide a general principle that confers meaning upon all experiences of suffering.'<br /><br />As a layperson -- sincerely not meaning to be rude -- I can't believe that pastoral compassion would be able to fill the gap you've created here by diminishing Christ's sufferings (if I understand correctly) to insignificance with regard to mine.<br /><br />Ecclesiastes is right when it pronounces futility over suffering -- if we are looking at the world outside of the revelation of Christ. It is only in light of Christ's resurrection that the futility comes into a focus of hope (Romans 8 -- see v.20), where not even suffering can separate us from the love of God -- specifically in Christ.<br /><br />Wherever God's people have cried out in pain, even in a sense of abandonment, Christ has been with them. Their real and particular experiences (like the Psalmist who first penned Psalm 22) find their most real and particular depth in communion with Him. <br /><br />I don't mean to argue -- and might not be able to find the page again. I was searching for something else and came over this post. What you've presented above seems to put the burden of suffering entirely on the shoulders of a humanity already crushed with its pain, trapped in its own futility, for your statement suggests that there is no one to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows (Isaiah 53). Pastoral compassion is just more weight in the burden of futility, if Christ's suffering provides no meaning for mine. Heidihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06164206860431077787noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-22438183911722604102015-04-22T13:05:09.504-04:002015-04-22T13:05:09.504-04:00Astute comments. I second the recommendation of H...Astute comments. I second the recommendation of Hart's book.<br />I read it at least once a year. I'd like to also recommend the thought of William Desmond, but I'm not sure where best to locate his thoughts on evil. The last chapter of Being and Between, Perplexity and Ultimacy, some sections in Philosophy and its Others.<br /><br />Anyway, he's a philosopher congenial to rich theological reflection and it seems to me he doesn't cheat the complexity away.Briannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-4762829546021923642015-04-21T12:35:40.943-04:002015-04-21T12:35:40.943-04:00With your second-to-last bullet point in mind, I m...With your second-to-last bullet point in mind, I might add John Swinton's Raging with Compassion.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-17890488837535153652015-04-21T12:06:42.390-04:002015-04-21T12:06:42.390-04:00Thanks, Kim.
The last time I taught theodicy, I h...Thanks, Kim.<br /><br />The last time I taught theodicy, I had the students read Augustine's <i>Confessions</i> alongside Hart's book. It's probably Hart's most accessible book, and provided a nice counterpoint to Augustine.<br />Steve Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04600219630505650612noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-67759704752131886142015-04-21T11:14:30.472-04:002015-04-21T11:14:30.472-04:00Thanks for this post, mate. I like the way you'...Thanks for this post, mate. I like the way you're approaching the problem [sic] by keeping the pastoral front and centre, as well as your summary "important emphases". As for other works to consult (though I'm sure I'm taking coal to Newcastle):<br /><br />Susan Neiman's <i>Evil and Modern Thought: An Alternative History of Philosophy</i> (2002) is a useful resource.<br /><br />D.Z. Phillips' <i>The Problem of Evil and the Problem of God</i> (2004), with its Wittgensteinian take on the subject and its ample debt to Weil and reference to Rowan Williams is a must-read.<br /><br />And, of course, David Bentley Hart's <i>The Doors of the Sea</i> (2005) is a little modern classic.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15489409381009363165noreply@blogger.com