Theodicy: A term coined by Leibniz to refer to a theoretical justification of the goodness of God in the face of the presence of evil in the world. --- Alister McGrath, in Christian Theology: An Introduction (Blackwell Publishing).A perfectly good, righteous, and holy God with evil --- seemingly --- running rampant in His world. A conundrum; and one that theologians have wrestled with for centuries.
Best-selling evangelical author and columnist Philip Yancey wrote on the subject in 1997 in his book, Where is God When It Hurts? (Zondervan).
More recently, Anglican Bishop N. T. Wright tackled the topic in Evil and the Justice of God (InterVarsity Press).
We can, of course, ignore the topic altogether, throwing it, as it were, in our theological 'junk drawer', only ruminating on it if we are visited by catastrophe.
Today, I stumbled onto the topic once more when I learned that Christopher J. H. Wright, an Old Testament scholar and biblical ethicist, has written a new book called, The God I Don't Understand.
To promote the book, Wright's publisher, Zondervan, has posted online short video clips of the author giving a synopsis of each chapter.
Although my current stack of reading is far off the topic of theodicy, Wright won my attention in the first video by suggesting that part of the difficulty with evil is that we try to make sense of it. Wright says maybe sense cannot be made of evil, because that would, in a sense, legitimize evil --- giving it an undeserved, legitimate place in our world. God allows us to lament evil (even in His presence), Wright says, but reiterates that it is evidently in the wisdom of God that we aren't to understand evil.
While gentle and assured in his demeanor, Wright does tell in subsequent videos of anger with God and resultant tears. His is not a mere clinical assessment of evil, but a believer's struggle.
I sense that this work will take its place among the serious works on theodicy that are consulted --- with profit --- over and over again.
A review of Wright's book by Denver Seminary professor M. Daniel Carroll Rodas can be read here.
1 comments:
Actually, Jon, I've found that if you can frame the presentation of the gospel to address the issue of theodicy, the gospel is then perceived as relevant. People rarely mourn over personal sin any more these days. It is the sin of the world that weighs them down. The problem of evil is the big question that stumps believers and unbelievers alike. The cross is still the answer. Good to see more books out there on the topic. WE need to have a handle on this issue if we want to present the gospel today.
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