Theodicy

For centuries atheists and theists have debated one of the most important questions to date; does God exist? Are there hard evidences to prove His existence if he truly is real? Most importantly, why is there so much evil in this world? These questions cannot be easily answered, nor will there ever be a definite answer for them from either point of view; however, they are still thought provoking and great questions to explore and discuss to find a better understanding of why we believe what we…

Throughout our course we have learned about various authors ranging from John Smith to Edgar Allan Poe to Hannah Foster, but one of the most interesting authors that we have learned about has to be Phillis Wheatley. Throughout my essay, I will be discussing the role Phillis Wheatley had on society, the uniqueness of her situation, and the controversy of her poetry. I will also mention the content within her poetry. We had the opportunity to read her poems, On Being Brought Africa to America, To…

Ancient Egyptian Beliefs on Royal Burials and Their Relativity to the Afterlife Though throughout the course of Egyptian history there may be notable differences in the belief system between different periods, one idea remains: the concept of universal order or ma ‘at. This order must be maintained for the people of Egypt to prosper, but how is this done and by whom? In part, this is achieved when the Egyptians follow the rituals of their belief system. Of these rituals, the most…

In their prelapsarian state, Adam and Eve were set to reap “immortal fruits of joy and love” (III.67) but after eating of the forbidden fruit they realize that this will no longer be the case. Adam bemoans how they “might have lived and joyed immortal bliss/Yet willing chose rather death,” (IX.1166-1167) and this fact is quickly confirmed by Jesus. Jesus judges Adam and tells him he will “return unto the ground for thou/Out of the ground wast taken. Know thy birth,/For dust thou art and shalt…

Voltaire’s Candide is one of the most famous works of the Enlightenment. Voltaire questions a huge variety of ideas and social establishments through his satire, including the philosophy of Optimism promoted by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. It is generally accepted that Candide disputes Leibniz ' optimism; there are many instances that indicate this in the text, especially surrounding the Eldorado episode. Optimism is the idea that God created the “best of all possible worlds” (Leibniz 228), and…

compares it to the fantasy practice of the Red Faith. Zoroastrianism uses fire as a medium for spiritual practice and is very similar to the “religion of R’hllor [which] combines the cosmology of Zoroastrianism with the eschatology of Islam into a theodicy of conflagration: The Lord of Light will burn the imperfect world into new life” (O’Leary, Sacred Fantasy in Game of Thrones pg. 10). Further allusions include King Joffrey, embodying King Edward of Lancaster who, “‘though only 13 years of…

THE HIDDENNESS OF GOD Divine hiddenness, in the modern sense, does not refer to disquiet, disappointment and even despair that believers sometimes feel when God seems silent during suffering or trying seasons of life, rather it refers to a philosophical argument that asserts the unbelief of people who are both capable of believing and non-resistant to God proves that a loving God does not exist. Michael Rea puts it this way, “Our concept of God is the concept of a perfectly rational, perfectly…

Final Paper Many people would agree that there appears to be a contradiction between a loving God and the reality of evil. The attempt to answer these difficult contradictions is referred to as a theodicy. The great Christian thinker of our time, C. S. Lewis, wrote as an atheist after his beloved wife died, “meanwhile where is God? This is one of the most disquieting symptoms… But to go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is in vain, and what do you find? A door slammed…