Question Of Evil Research Articles

NIODA and the Problem of Evil: God as Ultimate Determiner

The problem of evil permeates contemporary theodicy, raising the question of how an omnipotent and benevolent God can allow its existence. Exploring this inquiry is inherently tied to investigating divine action, specifically the interplay between time and eternity within a temporary creation. In recent decades, the Non-Interventionist Objective Divine Action (NIODA) project has endeavored to present a science-backed perspective that acknowledges a respectful divine action harmonizing with the workings of nature. However, this viewpoint has faced criticism from various angles, particularly for its perceived inability to provide a definitive response to the problem of evil. This contribution aims to overcome these criticisms. While not necessarily endorsing the NIODA proposal, it seeks to present a fresh outlook on the question of evil that aligns with NIODA, addressing the dichotomy between the unity and plurality of divine action in the world and offering novel insights for the Christian doctrine of creation.

Individual, the Social, and the Not Yet Being: Ecstatic Naturalism and a Metaphysics of Responsibility

The mission of this essay is to outline the conditions for a metaphysics of responsibility—an ontology which encourages the morally and politically active form of life. The ecstatic naturalism of Robert Corrington, a contemporary development in American philosophy, is employed as a means of highlighting these conditions. As the work of Corrington integrates numerous influences from classical American thought, along with several Continental and Asian philosophies, a broad variety of figures and traditions are introduced throughout. The essay concludes with a comparison between ecstatic naturalism and process theology over a topic which surfaces repeatedly throughout the discussion: the question of evil.

Democratic faith. A philosophical profile of Richard J. Bernstein

Democratic faith. A philosophical profile of Richard J. Bernstein

The question of evil in Ksenija aAtanasijevic’s philosophy and theological anthropology

Current scholarship on Ksenija Atanasijevic mostly deals with her studies on various themes in the history of philosophy and her contribution to social movements such as feminism, pacifism, etc. On the other hand, Atanasijevic?s theological and anthropological thought has not yet attracted much scholarly attention. In this paper, I shall focus on the question of evil within the philosophy and theological anthropology of Ksenija Atanasijevic, putting it in the broader context of her lifelong investigation of human nature and experience.

Evil and Politics: The Possibility of Response to Evil and Its Limits. The Case of Eichmann Trial

The legal challenges arising from the Adolf Eichmann trial in Jerusalem are widely discussed in legal theory. Less attention is given to the trial in the framework of political and moral philosophy, where the key focus remains on the nature and the origins of evil (without a doubt, fuelled by Hannah Arendt’s definition of banality of evil). However, the trail itself present equally challenging question of human response to evil: how are we, the members of the modern political locus to respond to the evil of inhuman proportions? This article aims to answer the question through the reconstruction of debate that took place during the period of the trail (from the date of capture of Eichmann in 1960, till his execution in 1962) and the arguments “for” and “against” the trial by Arendt, Karl Jaspers, Isaiah Berlin, Gershom Scholem and Martin Buber. Beyond these arguments, there is an engaging philosophical debate about the nature and origins of justice, the limits of guilt and retribution, crime and punishment. It is argued that Arendt’s pro-trail stance provide for a way of engagement with the questions of evil by modern political men.

Pourquoi avons-nous besoin du témoignage ?

This article proposes to analyze the relations between ethics and the poetics of testimony. It does so by testing Paul Ricoeur’s analyses of testimony with the literary work of the Belarusian Nobel Prize winner Svletana Alexievitch. After having shown why witnessing occupies a type of expressivity that is singular in contemporary times, and then having been surprised by the strong links that unite witnessing and the experience of evil, Alexievitch’s work is chosen to explain what the resource of the poetic could be, in the face of the question of evil. Ultimately, the consequences are drawn for the development of a practical wisdom in which testimony would be in a good place.

L’albero della conoscenza: la dialettica del mito eterno dell’uomo secondo Hegel

This paper aims to investigate the dialectical nature of the myth of original sin as described by Hegel. For introductory purposes, I will briefly highlight the process by which Hegelian philosophy operates the translation from religious representation to concept, demonstrating how this reading is at the basis of the interpretation of the myth. Then I will analyze the functioning of the dialectical movements of the biblical episode of Genesis 3 within the Phenomenology of Spirit and the Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion, in order to discuss the issues of good and evil, innocence and guilt, will and arbitrariness. In this reconstruction the dialectic will emerge in its importance as a structure that permeates human consciousness as well as reality in general. In the specific case of the tree of knowledge, we will witness the concretization of this eternal conciliation of contradictions in two specific areas, which will be treated in the last section: the question of evil on the one hand, which will be demonstrated as a necessary negative element that triggers the dialectical movement itself, and the question of freedom on the other, which will appear as the result of the emancipation of the subject from the natural state in which he finds himself in the so-called "garden of animals".

Bruno Latour, czyli teoria miłości-sieci. Szkic z antropologii nauki

Bruno Latour, or love-network theory: An essay in the anthropology of knowledge Bruno Latour is one of the most influential social science theoreticians today. Yet even his admirers admit they are at a loss when trying to grasp the guiding principles of Latourian thought. Indeed, one can’t help wondering if there is anything in common between the ethnographic observation of an endocrinology laboratory, the analysis of Charles Péguy’s writing style, the anthropological criticism of Modernism, an apocalyptic discourse on Anthropocene, the semiotic study of religious speech, the Actor-Network Theory, and philosophical inquiry into plurality of modes of existence. Latour stresses that his works are part of a “great hidden project”, although he does not bother to explain of what this project consists. In this paper, I attempt to throw light on the riddle of Latour’s “hidden project” and to figure out its meaning. My analysis is premised on the hypothesis that Latour’s system should be interpreted as a form of worldview, similar to what anthropologists used to call cosmologies when studying societies outside the Western world. Like most worldviews in the European tradition, the Latourian cosmology is rooted in the question of evil and salvation. This allows us to perceive the unity of the Latourian system, which aims at transforming the European civilization, including a new reformation of the Christian religion. Latour promises to free us from the errors of Modernism and, at the same time, to renew our conception of ontology, science, religion, politics, ecology and ethics.

TOUT EST BIEN? NATURAL AND SUPERNATURAL CAUSES OF EVIL: PERSPECTIVES FROMHUME'S TREATISE AND VOLTAIRE'S CANDIDE

Evil and human suffering seem to be a perennial problem. Final answers to the enigma may be impossible, but we can endeavour to structure the debate and avoid increasing suffering by 'wrong' ways of thinking - our theories merely exacerbate the suffering. The question of evil, suffering and theodicy was dealt with extensively in the 18th century. This article revisits the ideas of Hume and Voltaire, representing much of 18th century thought on the subject, in order to determine its relevance to present-day thinking. Voltaire's Candide ridicules Lessing's idea that we have the best of all possible worlds. Thinking about evil and suffering is always causal: Why did it happen? Who / what caused it? In this regard Hume indicated that the 'necessary' connection we make between cause and effect is no more than a custom (operation) of mind, and often wrong. We establish causal patterns over a period of time and apply them uncritically and unscientifically in our daily explanation of events. This seems to be analogous to the naturalistic fallacy (Moore) of deriving an ethical 'ought' from an empirical 'is' (fact). Causal operation on a physical level is transposed to the moral level of human conduct. We establish a causal link between ethical conduct and what 'consequently' transpires in our lives. This explains why we attribute much of what happens in our lives to either God or the devil. The article challenges theology to engage with science and the natural explanations it offers, in a manner that maintains vistas of the transcendent, including the experience of awe, wonderment, respect and worship.

Bruno Latour, czyli teoria miłości-sieci. Szkic z antropologii nauki

Bruno Latour, or love-network theory: An essay in the anthropology of knowledge Bruno Latour is one of the most influential social science theoreticians today. Yet even his admirers admit they are at a loss when trying to grasp the guiding principles of Latourian thought. Indeed, one can’t help wondering if there is anything in common between the ethnographic observation of an endocrinology laboratory, the analysis of Charles Peguy’s writing style, the anthropological criticism of Modernism, an apocalyptic discourse on Anthropocene, the semiotic study of religious speech, the Actor-Network Theory, and philosophical inquiry into plurality of modes of existence. Latour stresses that his works are part of a “great hidden project”, although he does not bother to explain of what this project consists. In this paper, I attempt to throw light on the riddle of Latour’s “hidden project” and to figure out its meaning. My analysis is premised on the hypothesis that Latour’s system should be interpreted as a form of worldview, similar to what anthropologists used to call cosmologies when studying societies outside the Western world. Like most worldviews in the European tradition, the Latourian cosmology is rooted in the question of evil and salvation. This allows us to perceive the unity of the Latourian system, which aims at transforming the European civilization, including a new reformation of the Christian religion. Latour promises to free us from the errors of Modernism and, at the same time, to renew our conception of ontology, science, religion, politics, ecology and ethics.

L’impact de la Première Guerre mondiale sur la théologie française

La pensée de Pierre Teilhard de Chardin a marqué l’histoire de la réflexion chrétienne au XX e siècle. Il se trouve qu’elle s’élabore au cours de la Première Guerre mondiale. À travers les nombreux écrits de cette période, les principaux thèmes sont élaborés. La réflexion sur la dimension cosmique et évolutive de l’existence humaine n’occulte pas la question du mal.

El rechazo de la teodicea en la obra de Emmanuel Lévinas

This paper reviews Levinas’ understanding of evil and his rejection of any form of theodicy, in the light of the reintroduction of the question of evil in political discourse and in contemporary philosophical thought.

Adorno and Arendt: Evil, Modernity and the Underside of Theodicy

The point of departure for this article is a comparative study of Adorno and Arendt on the question of evil and modernity. To be precise, I observe how Adorno and Arendt present us with very different ways of understanding radical evil as an expression of the modern project of acceleration. This divergence presents us with a problematic which does not fit easily into the framework of the contemporary post-metaphysical engagement with evil. The latter projects a relational, non-substantive concept of evil addressed under the order of collective memory and against the background of a normatively neutralized order of history. Yet I show, by tracing the continuities and discontinuities which exist between Arendt and Adorno’s conceptualizing of radical evil, on the one hand, and the different elements of this contemporary engagement, on the other, how the initial problematic is symptomatic of a continuing investment in history and can only be addressed in terms of such an investment. This investment is the product of a dynamic between history and memory, informing the work of both thinkers, which partially intersects with the Hegelian strategy of theodicy. I thus conclude with a consideration of whether certain aspects of the latter should be rehabilitated.

Ibn ʿArabī (1165–1240) and Rūmī (1207–1273) on the Question of Evil: Discontinuities in Sufi Metaphysics

ABSTRACTThis article compares and contrasts Ibn ʿArabī’s and Rūmī’s accounts of evil. Ibn ʿArabī explains the existence of evil as a consequence of both metaphysical necessity and God’s volitional act. Evil is the inevitable ‘shadow’ of existence implied by the Infinity of God, and God’s mercy existentiates the possibilities ‘hidden’ in the Infinite, allowing this metaphysical necessity to emerge. In contrast to Ibn ʿArabī’s necessitarian-cum-volitional theodicy, Rūmī presents an almost exclusively volitional theodicy. He traces the roots of evil to the Divine Will. To preserve God’s moral perfection, he frequently points to the positive compensating functions of the existence of evil in the world. Ibn ʿArabī’s theodicy enables him to accentuate the necessity of evil in order to save the act of will, and hence God’s perfection, from being directly related to the emergence of evil. Rūmī’s volitional theodicy, however, relates the Divine Will directly to evil, and subsequently attempts to preserve the purity of the Divine intention by accentuating all the positive compensations.

A Barely Visible Protagonist

Margarethe von Trotta’s Hannah Arendt offers a brilliant cinematic interpretation of one of the most pivotal chapters in Hannah Arendt’s life and work, the Eichmann trial. The author argues that the film correctly assumes that Arendt’s thinking on evil underwent an important change during the writing of Eichmann in Jerusalem and seeks to present this change as a key to understanding her book and the rage it spurred. The film depicts this change by showing the intense labor of thinking Arendt devoted to the question of evil at the time of the trial and in the months that followed it. This essay reconstructs the way Arendt’s thought is displayed in the film as a basis for its interpretation. This interpretation is supported by a reconstruction of the historical context and discursive conditions in which Arendt’s new concept of evil, and her understanding of Nazi evil that follows from it, became such a scandal.

Book Review: With Joyful Acceptance, Maybe: Developing a Contemporary Theology of Suffering in Conversation with Five Christian Thinkers: Gregory the Great, Julian of Norwich, Jeremy Taylor, C. S. Lewis, and Ivone Gebara

With Joyful Acceptance, Maybe: Developing a Contemporary Theology of Suffering in Conversation with Five Christian Thinkers: Gregory Great, Julian of Norwich, Jeremy Taylor, C. S. Lewis, and Ivone Gebara. By Molly Field James. Eugene, Ore.: Wipf & Stock, 2012. xiii + 213 pp. $28.00 (paper).Molly Field James is an Episcopal priest and professor who teaches ethics and pastoral care at Hartford Seminary and University of St. Joseph. With Joyful Acceptance, Maybe is her first book-length publication. James's contemporaiy theology of suffering is influenced by her professional experience as a hospital chaplain and parish priest, as well as her personal experience as a cancer survivor.James's book offers a typology of theological responses to grief and suffering, drawing on work of Gregory Great, Julian of Norwich, Jeremy Taylor, C. S. Lewis, and Ivone Gebara. James's focus is not questions of evil and theodicy, but experience of suffering in of Christian. When is suffering redemptive, and therefore to be accepted? When is suffering not redemptive, and therefore to be resisted? Each of five thinkers deals with challenge of suffering theologically and from personal experience. Along way, five themes serve as touchstones: human condition, God's providence, Christ, salvation, and eternal life. After analyzing and comparing thinkers, James proposes a fusion of five, concluding that Christian theology requires a nuanced of suffering (p. 192). On one hand, Christians are bound to experience suffering and must learn to endure it with faith and hope. On other hand, such acceptance does not rule out pursuit of human flourishing, which must include opposition to sin and injustice that leads to suffering.With Joyful Acceptance, Maybe begins by offering a working definition of suffering and grief, a discussion of typologies, and a review of major works that overlap with James's project. In chapter 1, James then introduces Gregory Great and his handbook on pastoral care. For Gregory, Christians should greet all suffering as a gift from God that pushes one to engage in reflection, repentance, and amendment of life (p. 26). The next chapter discusses Revelations of Julian of Norwich, who views experience of suffering as a primarily good thing because it is the path to reward of blissful union with God in Christ (p. 73). James then reviews work of seventeenth-century divine Jeremy Taylor. In his manual Holy Living and Dying, Taylor suggests that suffering should be embraced as an opportunity to live a more holy through practice of patient forbearance, looking to reward of eternal (p. …

Desert Ethics: Technology and the Question of Evil in Günther Anders and Jacques Derrida

The performances of our heart – our inhibitions, fears, worries, regrets – are inversely proportional to the dimensions of our deeds, i.e., the former grow smaller as the latter increase in size.1G...

Coping with Evil in Ghanaian Pentecostalism

From songs, sermons and practices, this article examines the way Ghanaian Pentecostals address the question of evil and suffering. It approaches this from the perspective of common believers and leadership. The discussions reveal that there are multiple understandings, perceptions and interpretative tensions concerning how to cope with evil among Ghanaian Pentecostals. Whereas common believers approach it through what Opoku Onyinah calls ‘witchdemonology’, leadership considers this as inadequate. This is because common believers fail to understand the role of evil and suffering in human existence. As such they tend to promote the devil far above the Almighty God. According to leadership the presence of evil may not necessarily contradict God’s goodness and purpose. The paper concludes with some Biblical propositions in an attempt to resolve the apparent tension.

Kurjus ja tema teisik

This paper about theater fiction tries to enlighten the problem of the figurative representation of forces of evil. Incidentally we notice that some very actual productions are based on dramas from the 16th century transgressing the period and updating the figures of violence. On this way, assistance is leaded „behind the mirror“ and required to ask herself what is representing evil in our world? To try to understand the mechanism or a part of it we have chosen three figures of contemporary stage as example. The first is La Furie, from Jean Virey du Gravier’s tragedy La Machabée (1596) and staging in 1985. This figure without any reality is only visible from the assistance but she manipulates all the figures of the play. Her nonexistence let her possibility to say truth. The second is a muted figure in Wolfgang Mitterer’s opera Massacre (2003) witch is based on Marlowe tragedy Massacre à Paris (1596). She is mixing the old age and the new one and show explicitly the concordance amongst stages on which the character of the 16th century are performing and Iraqi’s war video. The last one is Ariel in Thomas Adès’ opera The tempest (2004) based on Shakespeare’s eponym play (1611). This character has no representation as la Furie. Ariel is also fiction witch mixed evilness and goodness, an avatar of the two previous characters. In the present case Evil is shown as the will of Prospero who wants have revenge. Ades insist on the total obedience of Ariel, who brings out his incoherencies. Obviously, origin of evilness is not in the mind of the executor but in the contract that bind him to another force: jealousy of Duke of Milan who takes off Prospero from his throne because he was not an action man. These characters make a bridge between the Renaissance and now a day and show how permanent is the question of evil. The man hopes through civilization get rid off from aggressiveness but he hasn’t found yet how to struggle against evil. Through the parallelism between the both historic period, the writers and composers are going on to explore the question finding this composite material as inspiring today as it was in old time. They put on the stage same violence and same blinding of the human being, let us know that we haven’t progress in treatment of evil.

Yhwh, the Goddess and Evil: Is 'monotheism' an adequate concept to describe the Hebrew Bible's discourses about the God of Israel?

The concept of �monotheism� has become a matter of debate in Hebrew Bible scholarship. This article investigates whether the concept should still be used, starting with Second Isaiah, who in the early Persian period elaborated a discourse that presented Yhwh as the only god. Therefore he had to integrate into this deity functions traditionally attributed to goddesses and to demons or evil gods. However, this attempt did not succeed. The goddess, whose elimination is probably reflected in Zechariah 5, returned in a certain way through the personification of Wisdom in Proverbs 8, and the �dark sides� of the gods were materialised in the figure of Satan, who experienced an impressive career in the following centuries. The question of evil is not resolved in the Hebrew Bible. Some texts admit the autonomy of evil, whereas Isaiah 45 claims that Yhwh himself is at the origin of evil. This diversity makes it difficult to characterise the Hebrew Bible as the result of a straightforward evolution from polytheism to monotheism.