Good Old Days
When does the events narrated in the Book of Job take place? What is the significance of this?
The story has no historical markers.
It's a mythical quality applicable universally.
Why does Lewis reject the idea of "possible words" that God could have, but didn't, create?
Too anthropomorphic: image of God weighing possible worlds against each other.
If God creates any world, it will proceed from him without a second thought.
What were the names of the individuals being mourned in A Grief Observed and Lament for a Son?
A Grief Observed: Helen Joy Davidman/Lewis
Lament for a Son: Eric Wolterstorff
What is the fallacy of "begging the question"? How does Sovik use this to critique moral anti-theodicy?
To assume what you are supposed to prove; to include your conclusion in a premise for your argument.
Sovik says anti-theodicy assumes theodicy is false, and proceeds to explain why theodicy is harmful.
What were the two reasons Sollereder gave for preserving classical theodicy?
(1) We need an account of what evil is.
(2) Theodicies can help reframe how people suffer.
Intellectual responses are part of (not opposed to) practical responses to suffering.
When did the Lisbon catastrophe happen? What were its three stages? Approximately how many people died in the region?
Nov 1, 1775:
Stage 1: 8.5 earthquake near Portugal
Stage 2: Tsunami
Stage 3: Fires
Around 100,000 regional deaths.
Why must suffering appear inexplicable or pointless, for Hick?
What's at stake if it doesn't appear this way?
To develop the virtues soul-making requires, suffering must appear pointless, unnecessary (courage, compassion, etc).
For "the good will" (doing the right thing because it is right) to exist, evil or good cannot have predictable outcomes.
What does the "sound of laughter" in the dark signify for Lewis in A Grief Observed?
That a human being might be wrong about their perception of themselves and their situation, especially during grief.
(1) Classical theodicy
(2) anti-theodicy
(3) Practical Theodicy
classical = responds to intellectual problem of evil
anti-theodicy= objects to classical project for ethical/philosophical reasons.
practical theodicy = takes anti-theodicy objections as suggestions for how to practically address sufferers.
Which anti-theodicist said:
"Thus the least one can say about suffering is that in its own phenomenality, intrinsically, it is useless, 'for nothing'"?
Emmanuel Levinas
What's the primary difference between how Martin Luther and Immanuel Kant reinterpreted the story of Job?
Luther: Job was about what happens to every person, no matter how holy they are, when grief strikes. This story gives comfort.
Kant: Job is about the importance of honest belief vs. fake conviction. Truthfulness vs. Truth.
For JL Mackie, what are the two additional premises we need to complete the *logical* problem of evil?
P1. God is omnipotent.
P2. God is wholly good.
Evil exists.
+ No limits to what an omnipotent being can do.
+ Good eliminates evil as much as it can.
(Bonus: What did Plantinga call the first additional premise?)
What kind of faith does Wolterstorff seek at the end of Lament for a Son?
A faith "emptied of intimacy/nearness/proximity."
He refuses to live in a world where the price of admission is the horrendous suffering of an innocent child.
Implication: God should not have created this world.
Who from our authors spoke about a fawn burning to death in a forest? What version of the Problem of Evil where they advocating? How?
William Rowe
The Evidential Problem of Evil
Gratuitous suffering (not contributing to soul-making) counts against belief in God, even if it doesn't logically contradict it.
What do each of the Comforters in J.B. represent?
Zophar? Bildad? Eliphaz?
Who is the "worst" for J.B.? Why?
Zophar: Priest (organized religion: original sin)
Bildad: Marxist (History is amoral)
Eliphaz: Freudian (Guilt is illusion of subconscious)
Zophar is the worst: Makes God evil "mis-creator of man"
What is "Trans-world Depravity"? Which version of the Problem of Evil does this concept respond to? How?
The (logical) possibility that in each possible world God creates a genuinely free person, that person chooses at least one wrong/evil action.
Logical problem of evil: JL Mackie is wrong to assume that God could create a world of free beings who always freely choose the good.
What are the two different models of grief discussed in Perez?
Linear models: denial, anger, bargaining, acceptance, meaning-making, etc.
Non-linear models: oscillate between two poles of grieving.
(Bonus: How might this map onto Lewis vs. Wolterstorff?)
In Perez's article, what's the scale called that psychologist use to operationalize (empirically study) the most common theodical beliefs in the United States?
The Views of Suffering Scale (2012).
According to M. Adams, what's wrong with classical theodicies?
How does God's moral attributes relate to ours?
Give answers for: Philo, Cleanthes, Demea, and CS Lewis.
Philo: we can't say. God is apathetic/immoral.
Cleanthes: By analogy with human nature
Demea: we can't say, but God is morally perfect.
Lewis: as a drawn circle imitates a perfect circle.
Name and explain the 4 elements to Augustine's approach to the Problem of Evil, according to Hick.
Metaphysics: Evil is privation.
Source: Evil comes from Free will.
Principle of Plenitude: Richer universe that has more forms of life (the more, the more glory God receives)
Aesthetic: global harmony out of disharmony.
What are the 3 Core Assumptions that trauma shatters, according to Shattered Assumptions Theory?
(1) the world is benevolent/good
(2) life is meaningful
(3) the self is worthy/competent
According to Toby Betenson, what is the "second-thought" (or "dirty-hands") dilemma for theodicy? How does this argument work?
If God creates without a second-thought, he is morally callous.
If God creates with a second-thought (hesitation), he is left with "dirty hands."
What were the 3 conditions Sollereder stated to shift from classical theodicy to Compassionate theodicy?
(1) refuse to use stories of trauma as data points for discussion/debate.
(2) drop the jargon: write in accessible language.
(3) drop pretension to "have the answer" - sufferers are the authorities, not professional philosophers.