Beyond theodicy : Jewish and Christian continental thinkers respond to the Holocaust / Sarah Katherine Pinnock.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pinnock, Sarah K.

Series:

SUNY series in theology and continental thought

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Holocaust (Jewish theology).

Holocaust (Christian theology).

Theodicy.

Political science--Philosophy.

Political science.

Existentialism.

Physical Description:

xii, 195 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [2002]

Summary:

Beyond Theodicy analyzes the rising tide of objections to explanations and justifications for why God permits evil and suffering in the world. In response to the Holocaust, striking parallels have emerged between major Jewish and Christian thinkers centering on practical faith approaches that offer meaning within suffering. Author Sarah K. Pinnock focuses on Jewish thinkers Martin Buber and Ernst Bloch and Christian thinkers Gabriel Marcel and Johann Baptist Metz to present two diverse rejections of theodicy, one existential, represented by Buber and Marcel, and one political, represented by Bloch and Metz. Pinnock interweaves the disciplines of philosophy of religion, post-Holocaust thought, and liberation theology to formulate a dynamic vision of religious hope and resistance.

Contents:

1 Types of Approaches to Holocaust Suffering Practical Responses as Alternatives to Theodicy 1

Theoretical Theodicy 2

Continental Alternatives to Theodicy 7

Kant's Practical Turn 12

From Theoretical Theodicy to Practical Faith 16

Hegel's Hubris: Theodicy Revived 17

Hegel as Prototypical Target of Critique 20

2 Existential Encounter with Evil Gabriel Marcel's Response to Suffering as a Trial 23

Problem and Mystery in Philosophy 25

Marcel's Objections to the Theodicy Problem 27

Faith and Hope: The Discovery of Meaning in Suffering 30

Relation to the Thou: Availability and Fidelity 30

Suffering as a Trial 31

Hope, Transcendence, and Immortality 33

Acceptance of Suffering 34

The Limitations of Marcel's Approach after Auschwitz 36

3 Dialogical Faith Martin Buber's I-Thou Response to Suffering and Its Meaning 39

The Dichotomy between I-It and I-Thou Attitudes 40

God-Language within the Limits of I-Thou Relation 42

A Narrative Faith Response to Suffering 46

Hasidic Narratives of Suffering and Redemption 47

The Book of Job 49

The Eclipse of God and the Holocaust 51

Post-Holocaust Faith in God 53

4 Marxist Theory and Practice Scientific and Humanist Marxism 55

Marx's Materialist Method 56

Materialist Analysis of History 56

Social Class and Suffering 58

Ideology Critique 58

The Cold Stream: Scientific Marxism 59

The Warm Stream: Humanist Marxism 60

Modified Materialism 61

Hope: The Rejection of Determinist Teleology 63

5 Faith as Hope in History Ernst Bloch and Political Post-Holocaust Theology 65

Suffering in History: Against Teleological Theodicy 65

Hope as Political Vision and Real Possibility: Resistance to Suffering 67

Religious Faith as the Praxis of Hope 70

Apolitical Christianity and Political Faith 70

Moses and Job: Heroes of the Hebrew Bible 71

Jesus and the Immanence of God's Kingdom 74

Hope and Suffering in Jurgen Moltmann's Post-Holocaust Theology 75

Theology of Hope 76

Divine Suffering after Auschwitz 77

Marxian Hope as Eschatology 79

6 Solidarity and Resistance Johann Baptist Metz's Theodicy-Sensitive Response to Suffering 81

Metz's Critiques of Bourgeois Subjectivity and Existentialist Theology 83

Theodicy and the Effacement of Suffering in History 86

Theodicy and Bourgeois Apathy 87

Auschwitz and Anti-Theodicy 87

Objections to Divine Suffering 88

Metz's Political Faith: Dangerous Memory and Solidarity 90

Biblical Narrative as Memory 90

The Functions of Religious Memory 91

A Theodicy-Sensitive Response to Suffering after Auschwitz 93

7 Pragmatics, Existential and Political Comparison, Contrast, and Complementarity 97

Contrasting Personal and Political Approaches 98

Situating Suffering in "Existence" and "History" 99

The Religious Posture of Hope 101

The Religious Posture toward Other Persons: I-Thou Relation or Solidarity 105

Complementarity between Political and Existentialist Approaches: The Practical Insights of Contextual Liberation and Post-Holocaust Responses to Suffering 107

Memory 109

Solidarity 113

Hope 117

Mystical Faith 122

8 Beyond Theodicy Evaluating Theodicy From a Practical Perspective 129

The Possibility and Appropriateness of Theodicy 130

Practical Faith in God 130

The Epistemic Impossibility of Theodicy 132

The Moral Scandal of Theodicy 135

Guidelines for Faith Responses to Evil and Suffering after Auschwitz 138

Epistemic Humility 139

Moral Sensitivity 140

Religious Practice 141

Narrative Memory 141.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 175-188) and index.

ISBN:

0791455238

0791455246

OCLC:

48777468