A paradox posed by Epicurus asks, if God is perfectly good and all powerful, why do we suffer? He proposed two equally disquieting answers: Either God is not perfectly good and has no desire to stop human suffering or God cares but is not powerful enough to do anything about it.
Theodicy, (from Greek words for 'God' and 'justice'), seeks an explanation of why a good, powerful, and all-knowing God permits evil. The term literally means 'justifying God.' Many theodicies have been proposed, including one by Leibniz: this is the best of all possible worlds, even with its trauma and evil.
Islam: if God is truly the All-Powerful Creator of the universe, God must be able to do with creation as God pleases, and no one can sit in judgment over what God does with God's own creation. Paralleling the reponse to Job by God in Job, we are not in a position to challenge God on this issue.
Wisdom Literature. The books of Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes are a distinct genre of writing in the Hebrew Bible, separate from the traditions of Moses and the prophets, emphasizing instruction in how best to live, why life is sometimes brutal and whether life has meaning given such brutality.
Job's Unanswered Question. The Book of Job, challenging the pious orthodoxy of Proverbs, asks why the innocent suffer and the wicked prosper, and has the effrontery to challenge God on this question. His losses are reversed but his question, remarkably, is never answered.
The Preacher took a pessimistic view of human prospects, noting our short lives and little correlation between good behavior and good results--if he were from the state of TN he would say, 'That human life of your'n don't amount to much!' You and I, our accomplishments, our pain, will be soon forgotten.
The Covid-19 pandemic challenges both religion and science.
Science Our "Crowning Achievement"?
The race to find a vaccine, the relative incompetency of national governments, the World Health Organization, and the "world-renowed" U.S. Centers for Disease Control, raise the vexing question of why we cannot do better.
Science has been seen in many quarters as the crowning achievement of humanity. We forget that the pace of medical advancement has often been slow and some areas have seen no advancement at all. Over many years, about 100,000 people a year die from medical mistakes in the U.S. Physics, especially cosmology, is in "chaos." Mathematics increasingly is seen less as an impregnable fortress of rational thought than a giant block of Swiss cheese, riddled by paradox and seemingly undecidable questions.
Cosmology, a field in physics, is in "chaos."
Does the pandemic illustrate the weakness of science?
Religion Thrown into Chaos
The death rate among Orthodox Jews has been higher than among other groups. It doesn't seem that the Jews are God's chosen after all. Small churches around the country have been closing in recent years but the pandemic will ironically kill thousands of them. With the "shelter in place" admonition from different levels of government, attendance at religious festivities has plummeted.
The picture at right of Pope Frances Good Friday observance in an empty St. Peter's captures the desolation not only of Good Friday but the plight of organized religion in 2020.
But the largest problem is theological: why would a good God allow this scale of suffering and death, especially of the "innocents" such as children and kindly grandparents in nursing homes who have died by the thousands?
Does the pandemic illustrate the irrelevancy of religion?
In what ways does the evolving Covid pandemic equally challenge both science and religion?
We might imagine that science has a deep command of the physical world such that we can say we understand how the world works. But this is not so. We have models of science, physical theories, that help us solve some problems but are useless for others. The world continues to change--evolve--and our science has a difficult time keeping up.
We might imagine that religion reveals to us the fact that God cares for us and will take care of us--this is the doctrine of providence. But given how many people have died from plagues and pandemics over time-millions upon millions-perhaps it is the case, as one Jewish rabbi put it, "the world is a massive, uncaring machine." So religion faces perhaps the greatest challenge it has faced in a long time.
I. Wisdom Literature
The Wisdom books of the Bible (Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes) have perplexed biblical scholars for some time since they are quite distinct from other books in the Hebrew Bible. The first five books are stories of origins and identity, culminating in Moses and a covenant made between God and the people of Israel. The prophetic tradition, including books such as Isaiah and Jeremiah, speak of God's intervention in human history and moral exhortations regarding the implications of the covenant. But the Wisdom Literature of the Bible has a distinctive voice such that such themes are not found among them. Remarkable.
These books were probably written by sages, the closest the Israelite tradition had to philosophers. The sages served as diplomats, palace bureaucrats, counselors to the king. They were immersed in politics and issues of war and peace. The sages wrote and edited the Wisdom books over many hundreds of years
3 Different Kinds of Wisdom
(1)Folk wisdom characterized by short, pithy statements, with examples drawn from nature and framed as instruction from parents to their children, as in Prov. 20:4.
(2)Royal theology wisdom instructing junior bureaucrats on the intricacies and treachery of palace politics, as in Prov 23:1-3.
(3)Philosophical wisdom of deep reflection on the most controversial of theological topics, such as: Is there a God? If there is a God, why do dreadful things happen to good people? (Eccl. 3:19-21) 2 Sources of Life Information
(1) the natural world; (2) wisdom tradition of the teachers who went before.
Unlike prophets and priests, the sages believed that human experience, rather than the revelatory traditions of Abraham, Moses and the prophets, is the primary source of knowledge about the good life. For example, many sages believed that the good are rewarded for their goodness and the evil are punished (the "Proverbs theology"). These two sources were in tension at times since human experience showed that sometimes good people suffer and evil people sleep peacefully. The sages agonized over the seeming contradictions in human experience and took different sides in their debates.
Much of the book of Proverbs is about instruction so that our lives will be productive and we will have a good experience. The sages came to the conclusion that we can learn such life principles and can trust God to reinforce wise choices. But the sages understood this confidence differently. Some argued that adherence to Wisdom principles such as honest speech, hard work, and fair treatment of others would lead to a prosperous life. Others argued that although God's governance of the world flows from God's goodness, humans can never be sure of God's action: even if the ideal path is followed, dreadful things could still happen (Prov. 16:9).
The sages believed that things happen for reasons and that humans are able to identify such reasons. The prophets, by contrast, believed that God self reveals in dramatic history, dreams and visions. Yet some of the sages expressed deep cynicism because their expectation that the universe should make sense did not always square with their experience. Remarkably, such sages challenged the rationality of their universe and even the justice of God. One rabbi once said to a group of Christians, "You need to argue with God more!"
In what ways are the Wisdom books very unlike books of the Hebrew Bible and Christian New Testament? (Click question to open answer.)
What is surprising about the Wisdom books, especially Ecclesiastes?
The wisdom books make little reference to the books which refer to God's interaction with people, as recorded, for example, in the first five books of the Old Testament, or the gospels of the New Testament. Instead they contain the reflections, advice, and questions of the kind one would expect from teachers and sages, teachers of wisdom.
What is surprising is that the Wisdom books ask hard questions--some might say, irreverent questions--about standard religious belief in the providence of God--God's willingness to take care of people. Ecclesiastes, as we will see, urges us not to look for divine assistance because God's plan is unknowable.
This kind of joyous celebration, with intimate, passionate singing, will be one casualty of the Covid-19 pandemic.
(2:30 in the video)
Whoah God only knows, God makes his plan
The information's unavailable to the mortal man
We're workin' our jobs, collecting our pay
We think we're cruisin' down the highway, when we're slip sliding away
Notes
1. What does "theodicy" mean and how is it relevant to Job? (Click question to open answer.)
2. The article distinguishes between the prose and poetic section of the book, differences in writing genre. But how do the two sections differ in terms of point of view?
As the article suggests, "The basic religious paradox of why a loving God would construct a world so full of suffering is referred to as the problem of theodicy. No book in the Bible takes up theodicy's challenge with greater power than the moving and enigmatic story of Job."
The prose section is more deferential to God while the poetic section addresses God with sharp questions and a refusal to accept conventional theological wisdom ("God must know best").
Figure 1:Why Do the Innocent Suffer? The dark letters on the right (Hebrew reads from right to left) of this first section of Job are the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The first letter (looks like an "X" is the first letter of the word for God, first word on second line). The image links to a page with both Hebrew and English translation.
Slip Slidin' Away Lyrics
The Book of Job appears in the Hebrew Bible and is part of the Christian canon (list of Scriptural books) as well. It is the first book of poetry and addresses the problem of evil when it happens to basically good people. In more moderns, we would say it takes of Leibniz's problem, a theodicy. It is often considered among a masterpiece of world literature. Part of the Ketuvim ("Writings"), The book explores the perennial problem of unmerited suffering. It is named for its central character, Job, who attempts to understand the sufferings that engulf him, seeking counsel and support from friends and family who progressively abandon him until he is at last alone in his baffled suffering, like many people who recently died alone from Covid-19.
The Satan Appears
The book's unforgettable prose and poetry account for much of its impact. Job is a prosperous man with abiding faith in God. The "Satan" (the tester, a figure in the "heavenly hosts") does the testing to determine whether Job's piety depends on his great wealth. Job loses not only his possessions, his children, and finally his health, but the loss of his friends and--the last straw--the belief in him by his wife. They all suspect he must have done something despicable. But Job still refuses to curse God for allowing all this to happen.
Then the famous, even shocking poetic dialogue begins. The dialogue, at times more like a theological confrontation between Job and God, engages the meaning of Job's deep suffering, who is responsible for it, and the question of how he should respond. According to the "Proverbs theology," from the book of Proverbs, God blesses those who are just but punishes those who are wicked. But Job resists this too-easy explanation. The conversation between Job and God partially resolves the personal tension between them--but leaves unaswered Job's (and our) question: "Why do the innocent suffer?" Job's question is on the lips of many around the world with the Covid-19 pandemic. Consider this passage from chapter 7:
6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and they come to an end without hope. 7 Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath; my eyes will never see happiness again.8 The eye that now sees me will see me no longer; you will look for me, but I will be no more. 9 As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so one who goes down to the grave does not return.
One can imagine Othodox Jews in New York quoting these lines from Job or the more than 100,000 Americans who have died nodding in perplexed agreement just before their deaths.
In the conclusion to the book, Job comes to affirm trust in the purposeful activity of God in the the world-- though God's ways with people remain inscrutable. The theme of God's inscrutability appear in the work of Simon and Garfunkel (see lyrics above--expand the text box) two thousand years later (view remarkable, recent cover by Lone Bellow nearby). Maybe Covid-19 reminds us we are all "slip slidin' away" without realizing it.
Why is Job not a surprising book to modern Jews in terms of their experience? (Click question to open answer.)
In the book, Job argues with God? Isn't it presumptuous and impertinent to argue with God?
Being Jewish and suffering were nearly synonymous in the 20th century. The Holocaust was a contributing factor in the founding of the state of Israel, which some Jews saw as fulfillment of God's promise. Other Jews refused to accept its founding since the Messiah did not facilitate its establishment. Perhaps the founding of Israel was an example of "slip slidin' away" since it was not obviously founded by God.
Arguing with God may be a surprising theme in book of Job to Christians, but it is not to Jews. One rabbi commented to a gathering of Christians, "You need to argue with God more." Perhaps in the Covid-19 pandemic, we need to argue with God more. Perhaps arguing with God pays God the compliment of genuine conversation.
III. Islam and Theodicy: A Problem But Humans Don't Know Enough to Question God
The problem of evil, especially human suffering, exercised classical Muslim theologians as much it does Western philosophers, theologians and scientists today. The issue then was basically the same as it is now: If God is All-Good and All-Powerful, how do we explain the existence of evil? The theological school known as Mu'tazilah emphasized God's all-goodness and argued that since God is All-Good, God cannot be the source of evil. Rather, it is humans who inflict suffering on other humans, entirely on their own. In fact, the Mu'tazilites argued, beyond the original act of creation, humans are not at all dependent on God to do what they do but actually create their own acts!
By contrast, the Ash'arite school emphasized God's All-Powerfulness and argued that if God did not control all the affairs of the universe, something other than God could bring about things that went against God's will. For them, whatever occurs had to occur because God willed it. Otherwise, God would be neither All-Powerful, in complete control, nor, ultimately, God.
How do the two schools mentioned here parallel to possible positions a theist (one who believes there is a good) take when challenged with the problem of evil, given God is usually defined as both all good and all powerful?
Mu'tazilism emphasized God's all-goodness and argued that since God is All-Good, God cannot be the source of evil.
the Ash'arite school emphasize God's complete power and argue that if God did not control all the affairs of the universe, something other than God could bring about things that went against God's will so God would not have complete power. Whatever occurs had to occur because God wills it.
Both schools sought to absolve God of responsibility for evil. The Mu'tazilites did this by placing evil human acts entirely outside God's power and wholly in the hands of humans (which left them to explain things like earthquakes, floods and cancer). The Ash'arites, meanwhile, argued that if God is truly the All-Powerful Owner of the universe, God must be able to do with creation as God pleases, and no one can sit in judgment over what God does with God's own "property." In fact, the Ash'arites accused the Mu'tazilites of fudging the issue by falsely privileging the human perspective on what actually constitutes good and evil. They denied that humans were the center of some objective moral universe and pointed out that every moral judgment that humans might make could be matched by an opposite judgment by other humans. In this context, human suffering might be evil from the perspective of humans. But this would be no more an objective basis for indicting God than would be the argument of plants and animals against humans for eating them!
IV. The Book of Ecclesiastes (the "Teacher") and Religious Agnosticism
David Hume (18th century) was a famous skeptic about both miracles in religion and causation in science (without causation, science is in difficulty). What does this article say he concluded about the existence of evil and whether it entails the denial of a good God's existence?
Hume says the evidence is mixed, that there is both a lot of good in the world as well as a lot of evil. He even grants the existence of a divine designer of the world (Hume really enjoyed Scottish ale!), but such a designer is indifferent to our woes and fears, so is not the God of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam).
There is a Designer, but what happens to you doesn't matter much to the overall history of the world. The Designer, an "Unmoved Mover," does not know your name, note your birth, or lament your acquistion of Covid-19.
The Designer gets things going.
This overview of Ecclesiastes distinguishes the literary design of the book from its philosophical questions. This book challenges us to face death and random chance and the challenges they pose to a naive belief in God’s goodness. There is no doctrine of a soul or resurrection in the book, so the challenge of death, and how it can be reconciled with a deity who cares for us, is searing.
The Teacher was both a king and a sage “surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me”. And what did all his achievement signify? Nothing that has lasting significance since "It is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy with. I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind” Even from a position of power and wealth, "What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted” . Achieving his goals did not give him happiness, for it only made him realize how hollow and limited anything he could accomplish must be. In sum, he says again, “I perceived that this also is but a chasing after wind".
Pleasure (Eccl 2:1-11)
Next he says to himself, “Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself." He acquires wealth, houses, gardens, alcohol, servants (slaves), jewelry, entertainment and ready access to sexual pleasure. He imported the latest 75-inch 4K home theatre and of course had the best model Indian motorcycle. "Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure”.
In contrast to achievement, the Teacher finds some value in pleasure since "My heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil". His supposed achievements had turned out to be nothing new, but his pleasures at least were pleasurable. It seems that work undertaken as a means to an end — in this case, pleasure — is more satisfying than work undertaken as an obsession. Notice the Teacher was no Puritan--he was happy to indulge andy appetite, any fantasy, to see if that would deliver the goods.
Nonetheless, toiling merely in order to gain pleasure does not get us to something of lasting value either. As a result, he once again concludes that "all is vanity and a chasing after wind, and there is nothing to be gained under the sun".
Wisdom (Eccl 2:12-17)
Perhaps it is good to seek an object outside of work itself, but a higher objective is needed than pleasure. So the teacher reports, “I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly". In other words, he becomes something like a professor or researcher. So while it gives some short-term advantage since we live only short lives, it finally makes no difference: "I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness". so tha t"the wise die just like fools". Pursuing wisdom therefore will inevitably lead to despair. The teacher concludes, yet again, "all is vanity and a chasing after wind".
Do you know the names of any of your great-great grandparents?
Unless you are exceptional, you do not, and you probably won't rush out to figure them out. It doesn't finally matter a great deal to you. Will your great-great grandchildren know your name? Probably, it will not matter much to them or you. "All is vanity and a striving after the wind."
Wealth (Eccl 2:18-26)
Antonioni's classic film, "Blow-Up", Yardbirds scene, where Thomas (played by David Hemmings) battles for a discarded guitar neck (thrown by Jeff Beck) only to discard it as meaningless outside the club. The Teacher concludes our lives are no more meaningful than that discarded guitar neck. Not even a passer-by wants it.
Then the Teacher turns to wealth we can acquire in our careers or with our investments. Will that house in the suburbs (or the city high-rise) make up for the fact you likely will not be remembered? This turns out to be worse than spending wealth to gain pleasure. As the Teacher notes wealth brings the problem of inheritance. Do you work so hard so those great-great grandchildren who don't know your name will be given the fruits of your labor? "Sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.". This is so disappointing and religiously unfulfilling that the Teacher says "I turned and gave my heart up to despair."
At this point, we get just a hint (but never much more) of the character of God. God is a giver. "To the one who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy." God's gifts include all the things that give the world its depth and value--for a short amount of time. David Hume and the Teacher have a great deal in common. It is amazing that a book of this profound skepticism found a place in both the Jewish and Christian canon.
But the Teacher does not find satisfaction in giving wealth away any more than in getting it in the first place. The satisfaction escapes the Teacher. He does not seem to consider the possibility of investing wealth or giving it away for a higher purpose since the accumulation and distribution of wealth "also is vanity and a chasing after wind".
Why is Job not a surprising book to modern Jews in terms of their experience? (Click question to open answer.)
In the book, Job argues with God? Isn't it presumptuous and impertinent to argue with God?
Being Jewish and suffering were nearly synonymous in the 20th century. The Holocaust was a contributing factor in the founding of the state of Israel, which some Jews saw as fulfillment of God's promise. Other Jews refused to accept its founding since the Messiah did not facilitate its establishment. Perhaps the founding of Israel was an example of "slip slidin' away" since it was not obviously founded by God.
Arguing with God may be a surprising theme in book of Job to Christians, but it is not to Jews. One rabbi commented to a gathering of Christians, "You need to argue with God more." Perhaps in the Covid-19 pandemic, we need to argue with God more. Perhaps arguing with God pays God the compliment of genuine conversation.
The Wisdom books of the Bible (Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes) have perplexed biblical scholars for some time since they are quite distinct from other books in the Hebrew Bible. The first five books are stories of origins and identity, culminating in Moses and a covenant made between God and the people of Israel. The prophetic tradition, including books such as Isaiah and Jeremiah, speak of God's intervention in human history and moral exhortations regarding the implications of the covenant. But the Wisdom Literature of the Bible has a distinctive voice such that such themes are not found among them. Remarkable.Unlike prophets and priests, the sages believed that human experience, rather than the revelatory traditions of Abraham, Moses and the prophets, is the primary source of knowledge about the good life. For example, many sages believed that the good are rewarded for their goodness and the evil are punished (the "Proverbs theology"). These two sources were in tension at times since human experience showed that sometimes good people suffer and evil people sleep peacefully. The sages agonized over the seeming contradictions in human experience and took different sides in their debates.
1. What does "theodicy" mean and how is it relevant to Job? (Click question to open answer.)
man with abiding faith in God. The "Satan" (the tester, a figure in the "heavenly hosts") does the testing to determine whether Job's piety depends on his great wealth. Job loses not only his possessions, his children, and finally his health, but the loss of his friends and--the last straw--the belief in him by his wife. They all suspect he must have done something despicable. But Job still refuses to curse God for allowing all this to happen. 
Hume says the evidence is mixed, that there is both a lot of good in the world as well as a lot of evil. He even grants the existence of a divine designer of the world (Hume really enjoyed Scottish ale!), but such a designer is indifferent to our woes and fears, so is not the God of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam).
