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The
Problem of Evil
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Saint Martin's
College Humanities Division Department of Religious Studies David Suter homepage Return to course list Campus office: 366 Campus phone: (360) 438-4360 Office hours: MWF 2:00-250 PM; TR 1:00-1:50 PM Email contact here |
Description General Education Texts Requirements Topics and Assignments
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Why do bad things happen to good people? Is this the best of all possible worlds? What do we make of the language of insurance policies that speak of "acts of God"? How do we account for moral evil, or sin, in the world, the good creation of a good God? If we can not say why, what do we do when we encounter suffering or evil? These questions are as old as the book of Job and as contemporary as Waco and Oklahoma City. The Problem of Evil explores the Biblical symbolism of evil, the struggle with evil in Christian and Jewish thought, and the imagery of evil in contemporary literature. |
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This course qualifies for general education credit at Saint Martin's College. The aims and objectives of general education at Saint Martin's College include the goal that "Saint Martin's College graduates will have an understanding of religious and philosophical concepts and principles, and of the moral and ethical questions they will face in society and the professions." The Problem of Evil raises questions that have driven theologians and laypersons alike to seek answers from God concerning God's purposes in human life. These questions have frequently led human beings to seek depth in understanding the ways of God. The course is intended to equip students for life through reflection upon issues that will concern many over the course of life. |
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Texts
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The grade will be based on four short essays (focus papers) due at regular intervals during the course and a term paper or project due at the end of the course. The focus papers are to be four to five pages in length and are to explore a topic or issue related to the assigned readings and class discussions. Some topics will be assigned by the professor, others are to be selected by the student. Late papers may be lowered a letter grade. The term paper should be about eight pages in length, the topic to be determined in consultation with the professor. For the final grade, the term paper will count twenty five percent and the essays sixty percent. Fifteen percent of the final grade will be based on class participation. All written work must be the student’s own. Quotations and ideas derived from others must be properly noted. In accordance with the rules on academic dishonesty in the college catalog, plagiarism will be grounds for failure of assignment or course, depending upon the seriousness of the offense in the professor’s judgment. Students are expected to attend all classes and to come prepared to discuss the assigned readings. |
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Schedule of Topics and Assignments Some students in past versions of this class have found it interesting and helpful to read all of the assignments near the beginning of the semester. This is not an expectation but a suggestion. Reading assignments should be completed on the first day on which they are assigned to facilitate class discussion. Jan. 16: Introduction. Jan. 18, 23: Experience and reflection: What is Evil? Bring to class a paragraph or two in which you attempt to identify what you experience as evil. This will become the nucleus for your first focus paper—read Heagle, pp. 9-24. Jan. 25, 28, 30, Feb. 1: The modern experience of evil: Camus' The Plague—read The Plague, and as you read, keep track of the individual characters, noting the way in which each deals with the problem of evil. First focus paper due Feb. 1. Feb. 4, 6: The Garden of Eden—read Eve & Adam, pp. 1-40. Feb. 8, 11, 13, 15: Faces of Job—read Job, noting the differences between the prose and poetic parts as well as the distinct speech of Elihu in chapters 32-37 and the speech of God beginning in chapter 38. How does each section deal with the problem of evil? How does each section depict God? What is the debate between Job and his three friends, or "comforters"? What happens when the contrasting sections are put together into one book? What interpretation does the ending cast upon the whole book? Read Heagle, pp. 25-43. Feb. 20, 22, 25: Augustine: evil as nonbeing—read Heagle, pp. 62-72. Second focus paper due Feb. 25. Feb. 27, March 1, 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15: The story of Adam and Eve after the Bible—read Eve & Adam, pp. 41-63, 69-155. We will divide the rest of Eve & Adam up amongst the class as a whole and request reports on the individual chapters in order to assess what is there that is of interest or significance. You might be interested in exploring an Internet version of the Life of Adam and Eve and The Cave of Treasures, to be found at http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/anderson/. March 25, 27: The demonic as the voice of illness in Mark—read the gospel of Mark at one sitting. Stop at Mark 16:8 (anything after that point is not part of the original gospel). Read Heagle, pp. 44-61. Third focus paper due March 27. April 3, 5: The Irenaean tradition: an instrumental view of evil—read Heagle, pp. 72-75. April 8, 10, 12: The end of the Serpent: The book of Revelation--read the book of Revelation in the New Testament. April 15, 17, 19, 22, 24: "Thou mayest": evil in East of Eden—read East of Eden, focusing on the different characters and their understandings of evil and on Steinbeck's effort to interpret the story of Cain and Abel as the novel moves on. April 26, 29, May 1: The summing up—read Heagle, pp. 76-140. Fourth focus paper due May 1. May 6: Term paper due (5:00 PM) |
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