Animal Suffering and the Problem of Evil - Hardcover

Hoggard Creegan, Nicola

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199931844 ISBN 13: 9780199931842

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2013

Synopsis

Nicola Hoggard Creegan offers a compelling examination of the problem of evil in the context of animal suffering, disease, and extinction and the violence of the evolutionary process. Using the parable of the wheat and the tares as a hermeneutical lens for understanding the tragedy and beauty of evolutionary history, she shows how evolutionary theory has deconstructed the primary theodicy of historic Christianity-the Adamic fall-while scientific research on animals has increased appreciation of animal sentience and capacity for suffering.

Animal Suffering and the Problem of Evil responds to this new theodic challenge. Hoggard Creegan argues that nature can be understood as an interrelated mix of the perfect and the corrupted: the wheat and the tares. At times the good is glimpsed, but never easily or unequivocally. She then argues that humans are not to blame for all evil because so much evil preceded human becoming. Finally, she demonstrates that faith requires a confidence in the visibility of the work of God in nature, regardless of how infinitely subtle and almost hidden it is, affirming that there are ways of perceiving the evolutionary process beyond that "nature is red in tooth and claw."

About this title

About the Author

Nicola Hoggard Creegan is a research scholar at St. John's College, Auckland. Besides theology she has training in mathematics and biology, and is interested in all matters relating theology to science, evolution, and ecological issues. She is Chair of TANSA (Theology and the Natural Sciences in Aotearoa) which promotes science/theology discussion, and she is a trustee of A Rocha in New Zealand.

Review

"This provocative study calls for an understanding of animal suffering both before and after the arrival of humans -- and, in doing so, points to a rethinking of its theological significance... Recommended." --CHOICE

"In this lively and thoughtful yet accessible book, the author challenges the reader to consider more carefully the theological issues associated with animal suffering, and offers her own novel resolution arising out of a metaphorical interpretation of the parable of the wheat and the tares. One of the most significant aspects of this book is that it encourages theologians to consider the lives of other animals more seriously as relevant for theological hermeneutics, including reinterpretation of core Christian concepts such as fallenness, death, and evil... This book is sure to provoke, entice, and perhaps even rattle those who have so far failed to notice the growing tide of books dedicated to re-thinking the theological significance of evolutionary science and animal studies." --Celia Deane-Drummond, Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame

"How can we think about a God of love in an evolutionary world, knowing how closely we are related to other animals and knowing something of the extent of their suffering? This thoughtful, learned, and deeply Christian book is a challenge to conversion in the way we see animals, ourselves and God. It will leave readers asking new questions, seeing the world with fresh eyes, and invited to act differently." --Denis Edwards, author of How God Acts: Creation, Redemption and Special Divine Action

"Nicola Hoggard Creegan tackles one of the most difficult problems in Christian theology--the extent of the suffering of non-human creatures--with energy and honesty. She draws on wide reading and extensive acquaintance with the latest science, including new thinking on convergence and symbiosis. Her effort to draw that science into conversation with the thought-world of the Gospels is fascinating." --Christopher Southgate, author of The Groaning of Creation: God, Evolution and the Problem of Evil

"Original and thought-provoking..."-- The Journal of Religion

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0199931844
• ISBN 13: 9780199931842
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224