Religion and Hope

Chapter 7 defends the rationality of hope for humanity on both theistic and non-theistic grounds. Hope is appropriate when our interest lies in an unknown outcome due to factors completely beyond our control, as is the case if our future is rendered inevitable by theological determination or by the past and the laws of nature. Conceptions of divine providence, whether or not they endorse free will, are challenged by moral wrongdoing and natural evil that appear not to be justified by any good to which they contribute. Responses to the problem of evil, e.g. theodicies, are not decisive, but they allow for rational hope that a providential God exists. There is a related hope that is rational on either theistic or atheistic presuppositions, a counterpart of John Dewey’s “common faith,” a faith in the survival and progress of humanity embedded in a thriving natural environment.

Systematizing evil in literature: twelve models for the analysis of narrative fiction

While there are interesting connections between literature and evil, there is as of yet no systematic collection of models of evil to study literature. This is problematic, since literature is among other things an evaluative discourse and the most basic evaluative category is the polarity of good versus evil. In addition, evil shows important affinities with basic narratological principles. To initiate a discussion of models of evil for the analysis of literature, this article organizes a dozen models of evil into four groups. The first consists of a core model which coincides with basic narratological elements in character analysis and narrative tension. The second group contains two pre-modern models of evil, defilement and moral-natural evil. The third group takes its cue from personality theory and proposes the five-factor model of personality and an enriched “dark triad,” and, to balance description against narration, a model which categorizes kinds of murder. The last group organizes six models around the thematic opposition between nature and society, an opposition which forms the backbone of Western philosophy and narrative. To test their validity, the models are applied to a series of literary examples/characters, above all Grendel (Beowulf), Browning’s “My Last Duchess,” and Carol Oates’ short story “Heat.”

Membangun Penjelasan Dan Sikap Etis Trinitarian Terhadap Kejahatan Natural COVID-19

COVID-19 merupakan kejahatan natural yakni kejahatan yang disebabkan oleh proses natural yang sudah tidak berfungsi sebagaimana mestinya sebagai akibat kejatuhan manusia dalam dosa. Keberadaan COVID-19 sebagai kejahatan natural akan menimbulkan pertanyaan mengapa kejahatan natural dapat ada, untuk apa kejahatan natural ini dan bagaimana akhir dari kejahatan natural ini (problem metafisika kejahatan)? Pertanyaan lain adalah bagaimana respons atau sikap orang-orang percaya terhadap keberadaan kejahatan natural ini (problem moral kejahatan)? Penulis berupaya menjawab dua problem tersebut dengan menggunakan penjelasan trinitarian dari metanarasi Kristen yakni dari sudut providensi Allah, karya Yesus Kristus di salib, dan karya Roh Kudus di dalam gereja Tuhan. Allah di dalam kedaulatan-Nya mengizinkan kejahatan natural COVID-19 untuk kebaikan yang lebih besar. Anak Allah Yesus Kristus mengalahkan kejahatan melalui pelayanan-Nya di bumi dan di Salib. Roh Kudus, yang diutus Bapa dan Anak, menghibur dan memberi kuasa kepada gereja untuk melanjutkan misi Yesus Kristus. COVID-19 is a natural evil, namely an evil caused by a natural process that is not functioning properly because of the fall of humans into sins. The existence of COVID-19 as a natural evil will raise the question of why natural evil can exist, what is the purpose of natural evil, and how does this natural evil ends (the metaphysical problem of evil)? Another question is how the response or the attitude of the believers to the existence of this natural evil (the moral problem of evil)? The author tries to answer these two problems by using a trinitarian explanation of Christian metanarrative, namely from the point of God’s providence, the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, and the work of the Holy Spirit in the church. God in his sovereignty permits the natural evil of COVID-19 for the greater good. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, triumph over evil through His ministry on earth and on the cross. The Holy Spirit, sent by the Father and the Son, comforts, and empowers the church to continues the mission of Jesus Christ.

Solidarity at Issue: Pandemics and Religious Belief

A global pandemic such as that of the 2020 Covid-19 corona virus, causing great suffering and loss of life, brings home the difficult conditions that make for our fragile human life. But the question that religious belief poses, about “natural evil” in a world created by a loving God, satirised by Voltaire in the 18th century, masks the more existential problem, the possibility of greater human solidarity. In the background is the Deist view of God complementing the “polite society” of mutual benefit and guaranteeing the latter’s benevolent outcome. It is a worldview, as Charles Taylor (2007) explains, that has put aside the premodern idea of human transformation, that was symbolised by religious virtuosi, saints, theophanies, and so on, now looked upon with suspicion by modernity. But the possibility of transformation, of a generous human response to suffering, is what is called for in a pandemic. In Camus’ novel, The Plague, we see the more authentic response that resists being boxed in by religious enthusiasts to a constricted and ideological affirmation of a cosmic picture that obscures the fault-lines of bourgeois society.

Original Sin

This chapter begins with brief comments on broader issues of natural evil, including the darker side of ecological relationships that can lead to death rather than mutualism within a multispecies commons. An analysis of Augustine of Hippo’s doctrine of original sin follows, which shows how his doctrine became established in the church and how it remains problematic, especially in light of evolutionary alternatives. His use of Romans 5.12 is particularly important as it forms the theological basis for his understanding of original sin. The chapter will explore the contemporary rejection of Augustine’s doctrine for theological and evolutionary reasons and how far and to what extent the origin of sin might have a historical dimension in the light of theological claims for its importance. Literal interpretations of the Fall are resisted and the importance of acknowledging the course of evil in deep time is affirmed. This chapter sets the stage for the next chapter, which offers a broader philosophical analysis of the origin of evil through engagement with the thought of Paul Ricoeur.

Taking Soundings

This chapter introduces themes that are important throughout this work. Augustine’s doctrine of original sin continues to hold sway for many theologians and the chapter briefly discusses recent works that have taken his thinking seriously in the light of evolution. The chapter also begins to map the relationships between sin, evil, natural evil, and moral evil. This blurring between natural and moral evil represents the most recent example of why an adequate understanding of sin that takes account of humanity’s embedded relationship with the natural world is so important. The chapter begins with a very brief discussion of shame, conscience, and evolutionary explanations of religion in early human societies. Following this is a brief review of Western theological explanations for the persistence of evil through a review of current literature on original sin. The chapter then argues, following traditional sources, that sin is worth exploring in order to understand virtue; in other words, an exploration of vices helps to elucidate the meaning of virtues. The chapter then comments on the common dichotomy between natural and moral evil and argues for a much greater blurring of that boundary in thinking through the biocultural origins of sin and guilt. J.M. Coetze’s novel Disgrace captures the complex and ambiguous interlacing of human sin and animality. The rest of the present volume intends to show more clearly what that blurring signifies as well as the distinctive nature of human sin and its symbolic character, which has semiotic properties amounting to a grossly distorted form of wisdom, shadow sophia.

Covid 19 Natural Evil / Human Evil: A Philosophical Investigation

This paper sought to find out whether COVID 19 is as a result of natural evil, human evil or both. The researchers adopt an expository method in carrying out this work. Viruses have been around in the world long as life itself. We can confidently say that life as we know it would not exist without viruses. Viruses do leave “fossils” in the Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA)-the hereditary material in humans and of other organisms, from which their history can be reconstructed. It is as a result of this that the researchers posit that COVID 19 is neither natural evil nor human evil. The researchers conclude that the issue of COVID 19 outbreak ravaging the earth has a sufficient reason. But sometimes our emotions blind us from seeing the reason but solely the event.

Biblical Apologetics: Metahistory and Causal Retrospection

Православная христианская традиция рассматривает «естественное зло» - присутствие в природе естественных катаклизмов, страдания и смерти - как следствие первородного греха Адама и Евы. Однако научная картина мира объективно убеждает нас в обратном: «естественное зло» - неотъемлемая характеристика вселенной с момента её возникновения. С богословско-апологетической точки зрения данное противоречие может быть разрешено при взгляде на мировую историю в свете двух событий - грехопадения и искупления как метаисторических, влияющих как на будущее, так и прошлое посредством Божественного предвидения. Автор приводит обоснование возможности данного подхода. The Orthodox Christian tradition considers «natural evil» - the presence in nature of natural cataclysms, suffering and death as a consequence of the original sin of Adam and Eve. However, the scientific picture of the world objectively convinces us in the opposite - «natural evil» is an integral characteristic of the universe since its inception. With the theological and apologetic point of view this contradiction can be resolved when you look at the history of the world in the light of two events: fall of man and Redemption as a superor meta-historical, which influenced the future and the past by Divine foresight. The author provides a rationale for the possibility of this approach.