Animal Suffering, God and Lessons from the Book of Job
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4962149 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Geneviève Gasser (0000-0002-4057-5437, University of Augsburg, corresponding author), Georg Gasser |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 12 |
| Pages | 1047 |
| Publication date | 2021-11-25 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| 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/rel12121047 |
| OpenAlex | W3217083965 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 27 |
Nature shows itself to us in ambivalent ways. Breathtaking beauty and cruelty lie close together. A Darwinian image of nature seems to imply that nature is a mere place of violence, cruelty and mercilessness. In this article, I first explore the question of whether such an interpretation of nature is not one-sided by being phrased in overly moral terms. Then, I outline how the problem of animal suffering relates to a specific understanding of God as moral agent. Finally, in the main part of the argumentation, I pursue the question to what extent the problem of animal (and human) suffering does not arise for a concept of God couched in less personalistic terms. If God's perspective towards creation is rather de-anthropocentric, then moral concerns might be of less importance as we generally assume. Such an understanding of the divine is by no means alien to the biblical-theistic tradition. I argue that it finds strong echoes in the divine speeches in the Book of Job: They aim at teaching us to accept both the beauty and the tragic of existence in a creation that seen in its entirety is rather a-moral. Finally, I address the question what such a concept of God could mean for our existence
Ambivalence · Anthropocentrism · Argumentation theory · Beauty · Criminology · Cruelty · Darwinism · Dualism · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Sociology · Theism · Philosophy · Psychology · Religion, Ecology, and Ethics · Social Psychology · Theology and Philosophy of Evil · Violence, Religion, and Philosophy
Tutuism and the Moral Universe. Comment on Gasser (2021). Animal Suffering, God and Lessons from the Book of Job. Religions 12
Reply to Cordeiro-Rodrigues (2022). Tutuism and the Moral Universe. Comment on “Gasser (2021). Animal Suffering, God and Lessons from the Book of Job. Religions 12
African relational ontology, personhood and immutability
Religion, Animals, and the Problem of Evil
Pain, Life, and God
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,25 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2023 (2) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |