Been reading Migliore. He discusses traditional answers to this titles question and alternative theodices. I'll list and describe his thoughts, and make a few comments.
I really like the way that Migliore started this chapter:
“Our quest for coherence…must resist the temptation to build a system of ideas that pretends to know more than we do and thereby loses touch with both faith and lived reality. While we can have confidence in the truth of God revealed to us in Christ, our knowledge of God is not exhaustive.”
PROVIDENCE=God provides, takes care of, supervises, enables, all things
*There is a knowing and decided evil at work…what is God’s place.
*Natural evil refers to injury, suffering, caused by diseases, accidents, earthquakes, fires, and floods, etc.
Is mortality in itself evil?
--Augustine and Calvin: divine providence is less a speculative doctrine than a practical truth…God reigns and evil is firmly under God’s control.
Traditional Theology:
-incomprehensibility of God…just trust Him
-divine punishment
-divine pedagogy that makes use of earthly suffering to turn us to God and to cultivate our hope for eternal life
Modern alternative Theodices:
Protest Theodicy
Very strong view of the sovereignty of God that leads one to question God’s goodness…must honestly deal with “God is love”.
Ex:
-Jacob wrestles with God
-Psalmist “How Long”
-Job “I’m innocent”
-Jesus cries out to God from the cross
Answer:
-to be faithful to God even when might appear that God has ceased to be faithful…part of a faithful response to God is to protest evil.
Process Theodicy
God’s power is only expressed as persuasion, rather than coercion, thus He is limited and cannot prevent some evils. God is indirectly responsible for evil because He creates forms of life that have the potential for evil. God cannot be blamed because He intends good and shares in the suffering.
Weakness:
That Good will win
Person-making Theodicy
God desires persons who freely render their worship and adoration. Hence, human beings are created incomplete and must freely participate in the process by which they come to be what God intends them to be.
??”existence of worlds beyond this world in which persons continue their movement toward the fullness of life in love that God intends for all creatures”??
-spiritual worlds??, continued growth through eternity in heaven??
-Focuses on growth through suffering…not enough on resistance to suffering (every form and occurrence of suffering is an opportunity for spiritual development)
-Heb. 5:8 “learned obedience through what he suffered”
Liberation Theodicy
Redemptive suffering. A call to courageous human participation in God’s struggle against suffering rather than a pious acquiescence in suffering.
I relate most, to the person-making theodicy. I do see biblical precedence for humanity's calling to submit ourselves to God...this requires on our part, a full engagement of our physical, emotional, logical selves to our spiritual selves as we trust God, grow closer to Him relationally, and conform to His image. In this way we can begin to reach our full potential in Christ. I do though, agree with Migliore's description, in that the person-making theodicy is weakened by its lack of emphasis on resisting unnecessary suffering. In an extreme form, this type of ideology could lead people to actually seek out suffering, and in turn, could glorify suffering in itself. This is a pretty scary road if it is followed.
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