Christian Theodicy
A Critique of William Gass's Anti-Theology
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3571560 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dennis Lee Sansom (0000-0001-6195-3401, Samford University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 2 |
| Publication date | 2022-12-20 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/rel14010002 |
| OpenAlex | W4313467092 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 2 |
This paper presents a justification for a Christian theodicy. It starts by critiquing William H. Gass's depiction of Christianity as superstitious, ignorant, and evil. It shows that his view is based on a caricature (that is, God as a quasi-gnostic Demiurge) of the Christian understanding of God and evil and totally ignores and misses the contributions of (what I call) the Classical View of theodicy within the Christian intellectual tradition (that is, from Origen to Karl Barth). I also evaluate the underlying nihilism of Gass's writings as self-refuting and furthermore argue that a Christian theodicy overcomes this nihilism and encourages a "vocation of the good
Christian theology · Christian tradition · Christianity · Depiction · Epistemology · Nihilism · Theodicy · Theology · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Medieval Philosophy and Theology · Philosophy · Religious studies · Theology and Philosophy of Evil
| Highly cited | No |
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