Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God (Cornell Studies in the Philosophy of Religion)

The literature in contemporary analytic philosophy devoted to the problem of theodicy is vast and deep, but among the numerous books and articles, this one stands out to me. Adams admits at the end of the book that she has written enough that all readers will likely find something to be offended by in the text, but I believe it is also true that anyone who reads this book will find something of value in it.A particular strength of the work is that instead of only thinking about how to justify God and his allowance of evils in the world in the abstract (e.g. Plantinga's free will defense, Hick's "soul-making" theodicy), Adams focuses upon the problem of evil from the perspective of the victim, and in doing this, comes across as being more sensitive to the sheer awfulness and horror that participants of horrendous evils experience. Adams defines "horrendous evils" as "evils that participation in which (that is, the doing or suffering of which) constitutes prima facie reason to doubt whether the participant's life could (given their inclusion in it( be a great good to him/her on the whole" (26). In providing a response to the problem of horrendous evils, Adams is concerned not with a global or generic explanation to the problem of evil, but wishes to show how God can make each individual participant's life a great good to him/her on the whole. If God is to be considered good to all, God must restore meaning to the life of the individual who has been a victim of horrendous evils.Another positive in Adams's treatment of theodicy is her use of Christian resources in addressing the problem. Adams argues that the only way for horrendous evils to be defeated from within the perspective of the victim is by "integrating participation in horrendous evils into a person's relationship with God." In particular, it is the event of the cross, where the crucified Christ submits to death in god-forsakeness, that creates a point of identification between God and a humanity harassed by horrendous evils. God's participation in human horrors at the cross makes it possible for every victim of horrendous evils to integrate their narrative into God's own life and story, and thus suffuse their life with meaning and significance. An interesting consequence of her argument is that it entails a strong affirmation to universalism (hell turns out to be the paradigmatic example of a horrendous evil).

I read quite a bit of religious philosophy and this one was a particularly difficult. At one point, I had to bust out my phone and search for definitions.She does do a phenomenal job of exploring the Problem of Evil from several different angles. She definitely isn’t light-handed with the realities the problem poses. She’s willing to discuss Auschwitz and several different examples of horrendous evils in order to make her case for a Good God in spite of such evil. In some discussions, she even says that such evil can point to the existence of a Benevolent God- an intriguing argument, but I disagree with her on viewing this as an argument for the existence of God.

Marilyn McCord Adams takes on some of the ugliest theologico-philosophical tangles known to man - and does so very courageously. The fundamental dilemma, Does the believer in God commit himself to a logically untenable position when he posits the existence of an all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful deity, and yet acknowledges the presence of evil in the world? I.e. is there a possible world in which such a situation manifests itself? Of course, these issues have been debated to death by analytical philosophers (and some have concluded that believing in such a God is inconsistent with the existence of evil).Dr. Adams moves away from the traditional formulations of this question within analytic circles, which makes use of the utilitarian pain/pleasure calculus type approach to morality (championed by philosophers such as Bentham and Mills). Instead, she offers alternative approaches by examining the works of various theologians throughout the ages. Among the approaches considered are purity/defilement (cf. Rudolph Otto, The Idea of the Holy), the honor code, and aesthetics. She examines the most horrible of horrors encountered by man, and uses them to show how her God can overcome these horrors despite their apparent intractibility. Among some of the more interesting ideas suggested are the notion that God indeed suffers along with us humans and that even Christ (as God) had to experience abandonment by God, in order to fully participate in the human condition (even though these have been originally suggested by others).While I will not comment on the validity of her arguments (I think the difficulties are too great for me), I do think that she offers profound insight into the nature of God (whatever such an entity might be). It is nice to know that someone still has faith in an all-loving merciful deity, despite the fact that we live in a post-consumerist, post-industrial, post-Marxist, post-Auschwitz world.

This was a very very painful book to read. The author when at the height of her career was a brilliant logician, and all aspiring medievalists from far and wide marvelled at her investigations into William of Ockham's thought. But now, alas, those days are over and the author has overextended her talent by attempting to take on the problem of evil (something she has engaged in before, if only qua editor) but this time by using obsolete, archaic theories of anthropology. Where did her degree in anthropology come from? There is no degree. Where are the references to contemporary anthropology? Not in this book -- in fact it seems like the author didn't bother to even read anyone whose written later than 1980! Good grief! What kind of book is this? Many of her colleagues and former students probably have tremendous sympathy over her loss of faith in analytic philosophy and all its false promises to truth and certainty. But just as many are probably chuckling at this ham-handed attempt to start anew, as if one could invent a discipline of anthrology ex nihilo. This book, as the Magistra would say if she knew any better, " is totally underwhelming."

なぜ善で全能の神に造られたはずのこの世界に悪があるのか。神が善なら悪がないように望むはずだし、全能なら、そうできるはずなのに、なぜ、人は苦しむのか、という問いに答えようとする本はたくさんありますが、そうした本の多くが純粋理論的な思索であるのに対して、この本は机上の理論ではなく、実際に苦しむ人を牧会している牧師でもあり神学者でもある著者が実践的な魂と向き合いつつ思索した本として高く評価できると思います。

I downloaded this to a Mac computer. The text is wrongly oriented, running vertically not horizontally and there is, as far as I can see, no facility to rotate the view 90 clockwise. Here essentially unreadable.