The Problem of Evil in the Western Tradition : From the Book of Job to Modern Genetics

JOSEPH F. KELLY

ISBN 10: 0814651046 / ISBN 13: 9780814651049

Published by Liturgical Pr January 2002, 2002

About this Item

A one volume overview that stays to the point without sacrificing range. We'll call it a survey, and sure, Mr. Kelly could have spent the better part of his life on a ten volume effort, but (let's be honest) very few readers, or scholars for that matter, would have the time or interest to tackle it. What he gives us instead is an engaging narrative set along the avenue of human history. At the core, his approach is literary and philosophical, decidedly against the modern tendency to exclude a ''mythical'' figure of evil from the discussion. Claims Kelly, ''we must include the devil because the devil has always functioned as the personification of evil, and believers in the devil, such as Dante and Milton, have provided startling insights into the nature of evil itself.'' Beginning with the Semitic traditions of ancient Israel, he journeys all the way through to the current genetics debate, dialoguing with the likes of Augustine, Aquinas, Job, Jung, C.S. Lewis, Flannery O'Connor, Mary Shelley, Milton, Darwin, Hume, Camus. okay, we'll stop. You get the idea. Kelly conceals his own beliefs relatively well (choosing to show us his cards as a footnote) in the hope that we will engage the problem ourselves. Like new copy signed by author.

Seller Inventory # 252495

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Problem of Evil in the Western Tradition : From the Book of Job to Modern Genetics
• Publisher: Liturgical Pr January 2002
• Publication Date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0814651046
• ISBN 13: 9780814651049
• Binding: Paper Back
• Condition: As New
• Signed: Signed By Author
• Seller catalogs:
  • Theology

About this title

Synopsis

The question of evil presents a profound challenge to humanity—why do we do what we know to be wrong? This is especially a challenge to religious believers. Why doesn't an all-good and omnipotent God step in and put an end to evil? The Problem of Evil in the Western Tradition examines how Western thinkers have dealt with the problem of evil, starting in ancient Israel and tracing the question through post-biblical Judaism, Early Christianity (especially in Africa), the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and to the twenty-first century when science has raised new and important issues.

Joseph Kelly covers the book of Job, the book of Revelation, Augustine of Hippo, Aquinas, Luther, Marlow, Milton, Voltaire, Hume, Mary Shelley, Darwin, Jung, Flannery O'Connor, Karl Rahner, Teilhard de Chardin, and modern geneticists.

Chapters are "Some Perspectives on Evil," "Israel and Evil," "The New Adam," "Out of Africa," "The Broken Cosmos," "The Middle Ages," "Decline and Reform of Humanism," "The Devil's Last Stand," "Rationalizing Evil," "The Attack on Christianity," "Dissident Voices," "Human Evil in the Nineteenth Century," "Science, Evil, and Original Sin," "Modern Literary Approaches to Evil," "Some Scientific Theories of Evil," and "Modern Religious Approaches to Evil."

Joseph F. Kelly, Ph.D., is professor of religious studies at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. He is the author of The World of the Early Christians, published by The Liturgical Press.

About the Author

Joseph F. Kelly, PhD, (1945-2023), was the chair of the department of theology and religious studies at John Carroll University and was active in adult religious education in the Greater Cleveland area. The World of the Early Christians (1997), The Problem of Evil in the Western Tradition (2002), and History and Heresy (2012) are among his nine previous books published by Liturgical Press.