Theodicy Beyond the Death of 'God': The Persisting Problem of Evil

by Andrew Shanks (Author), Andrew Shanks (Author)

• New

  Hardcover
  2018

  $194.51

  True theodicy is partly a theoretical corrective to evangelistic impatience: discounting the distortions arising from over-eager salesmanship. And partly it is a work of poetic intensification, dedicated to faith's necessary struggle against resentment.

  This book contains a systematic survey of the classic theoretical-corrective theodicy tradition initiated, in the early Seventeenth Century, by Jakob Boehme. Two centuries later, Boehme's lyrical thought is translated into rigorous philosophical terms by Schelling; and is, then, further, set in context by Hegel's doctrine of providence at work in world history. The old `God' of mere evangelistic impatience is, as Hegel sees things, `dead'. And so theodicy is liberated, to play its proper role: illustrated here with particular reference to the book of Job, the post-Holocaust poetry of Nelly Sachs, and the thought of Simone Weil.

  A boldly polemical study, this book is a bid to re-ignite debate on the whole topic of theodicy. As such, it will be of great interest to scholars in religious studies, theology and philosophy.