Abstract:
My leading question is this: Can we reasonably maintain belief in God’s goodness in a world where pain and suffering seem inherent in making his purposes a concrete reality? I aim to deal with this question within a specifically Christian context, and to explore the prospects for a satisfying Christian theodicy. Traditional theodicies tend to view evils as instrumental means towards gaining some good that outweighs the resulting evils; for example, free will or soul-making theodicies. A contemporary shift away from instrumental theodicies is a compensation approach by Marilyn McCord Adams, who maintains that, in light of inaccessible ‘reasons-why,’ God must compensate, or ‘make-do,’ on the horrors that individuals experience in their lifetimes, through bringing them to share in the beatific vision. When we consider the realities of this world and its development through a long evolutionary process, it seems clear that pain and suffering are an inherent part of creation. How is it, then, that we can maintain that its creator is indeed a good God, who himself declares this world to be good? I believe we need a shift in our way of approaching theodicy, as there appears to be a contradiction; evil goes against everything God stands for, yet he creates a world where its presence seems to be inevitable. We need to look at the difference between what belongs to the fulfilment of God’s good purposes in creation, and what is merely implicated in making those purposes concrete (the distinction, in effect, between God’s ‘direct’ and his ‘permissive’ will): God directly wills the good in creation, but permits the evil that is inevitable if the good is to become a concrete reality. In light of this we need to rethink who or what type of agent God is. In Christ, we have a concrete knowledge of who God is; he shows us what it is to follow the Divine Will completely, in all our living, including suffering and dying. Because of Christ, I believe, we are assured that there is existential hope for right now as to how we can live our lives amidst pain and suffering.