Abstract
The Syrian and refugee crises, the violent radicalisation in Europe, and global xenophobia stir up anew the link between the human quest for meaning and hope within the realm of human misery and destructive acts of severe evil. The article focuses on the problem of theodicy and its link to God images. It discusses both inclusive and exclusive approaches to the theodicy issue, and proposes a paradigm shift from threat power to intimate, vulnerable power. A diagram is designed in order to identify different metaphors for God in pastoral caregiving. With reference to a pastoral approach, lamentation is viewed as an appropriate variant for theodicy. In the attempt to return to ‘God after God’ (anatheism), lamentation could help reinterpret the ḥesed of God in terms of our human predicament of ‘undeserved suffering’.
Highlights
The attack on innocent civilians in France on Friday night, 13 November 2015, left human beings all over the globe speechless,2 raising anew the issueProduced by SUN MeDIA Bloemfontein Acta Theologica 2016 36(1)of violence and evil within the context of a fairly civilised and democratic European society
She portrays Christ as God’s representative, who introduces Himself as the One who suffers with human beings
Not by giving an answer to theodicy, but by dealing with theodicy in terms of God’s identification with suffering and the transformation of injustice: “The only solution to the problem of evil raised by Auschwitz and Hiroshima would be the eradication of such an evil
Summary
The attack on innocent civilians in France on Friday night, 13 November 2015, left human beings all over the globe speechless, raising anew the issue. [w]e are confronted with collective terrorism activity around the world as terrorism does not recognise any religion, any race, any nation or any country (Reuters 2015:11) This is the reason why Obama is convinced that the terrible attacks and the killing of innocent people based on a twisted ideology is an attack not on France, not on Turkey, but it is an attack on the civilised world (Reuters 2015:11); it is a global threat to the meaning and significance of our being human. On 17 October 2015, after meeting with families of refugees at a reception centre in Italy, Rome, Ki-moon (2015) stated that the global community has to “stand with people who do not have any means” and provide basic necessities such as education and sanitation In his response at the United Nations to the Syrian crisis, President Obama (2014) stated emphatically: The world is on the crossroad between war and peace. Violent reactions stir existing paradigms regarding the meaning and destiny of humankind
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