Note exceptions, below

The Problem of Evil: From Job to the Present

MLAP 33001-01, Autumn 2016

Thursdays, 6:30-9:30 (NOTE EXCEPTIONS, BELOW)

Stephen C. Meredith ([e-mail])

Syllabus and Course Requirements

1. 
   9/29: An introduction and survey of the problem of evil. Reading: from Feodor Dostoevsky, Brothers Karamazov, Book 5, Chapters 3 and 4 (“The Brothers Get Acquainted” and “Rebellion”).
   
2. 
   10/6: The Book of Job: a late Old Testament view of the problem. We will use the version of the text posted on Chalk.
   
3. 
   10/13: NO CLASS
   
4. 
   10/20: Augustine and Aquinas: medieval, Christian responses. Readings:
   
   1. 
      The Confessions by Augustine, Books II and VII. (http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1011.htm)
      
   2. 
      Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologiae I. I. QQ 2-4, and 45-49 (http://www.newadvent.org/summa/)
      
5. 
   10/27 Voltaire versus Leibniz: the early modern response. Readings:
   
   1. 
      Voltaire: Candide
      
   2. 
      Pierre Bayle, “Manicheans”: Note D.
      
   3. 
      Leibniz, from Theodicy
      
6. 
   11/3 David Hume: Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
   
7. 
   11/10 Evil and Governance: Herman Melville, Billy Budd.
   
8. 
   11/17 The 20^th Century Nightmare: Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil.
   
9. 
   11/21 (MONDAY) Radical Evil: Can evil be “radical”?
   
   1. 
      Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men.
      
   2. 
      Supplementary reading (optional): selections from: Immanuel Kant, Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone.
      
10. 
    12/1 What is a human being in the age of biotechnology? Does the soul exist – and if so, what is meant by the term? Readings:
    
    1. 
       Bladerunner: showing of the film at Gleacher Center to be arranged.
       
    2. 
       Supplementary reading (optional): Thomas Aquinas, Treatise on Human Nature, Summa Theologiae, I.I, QQ 75-89.
       
11. 
    12/8 Disease and Human Suffering; the suffering of children and animals:
    
    1. 
       From C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, Chapter 8-10, “Hell”, “Animal Pain”, and “Heaven”.
       
    2. 
       Peter DeVries, The Blood of the Lamb.
       

This course surveys the theological problem of evil from antiquity to the present day. Because of the enormous scope of this problem, we must make selections, which can be painful and will be certain not to please everyone. Je suis désolé, but that’s just how it goes… We will focus on the Western, Judaeo-Christian tradition (that’s what I know about).

Course Requirements: Two papers, four pages each, one due on 11/3, and one due on 12/1. I will distribute a paper topic 1.5-2 weeks before the due date. Four pages is the MAXIMUM (meaning that I won’t read any text on p. 5), and the pages should have 1-inch margins and be in 12-point font. There is no minimum length. Mark Twain once wrote to a friend, “If I had more time, I would have written you a shorter letter.”

Book List:

1. 
   Readings (PDF) from Feodor Dostoevsky, Brothers Karamzov will be posted on Chalk.
   
2. 
   The Book of Job: PDF of a version of the text will be posted on Chalk. This is based mainly on the Revised Standard Edition of the Bible – with some modifications, explained in the PDF file.
   
3. 
   Augustine and Aquinas: readings (PDF) will be posted on Chalk.
   
4. 
   Voltaire, Candide, Norton Critical Edition, ISBN-13: 978-0393960587.
   
5. 
   Readings (PDF) by Leibniz and Bayle will be posted on Chalk.
   
6. 
   David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Hackett Publishing Company, ISBN-13: 978-0872204027.
   
7. 
   Herman Melville, Billy Budd, Sailor, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN-13: 978-0226321325.
   
8. 
   Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Penguin Classics, ISBN-13: 978-0143039884.
   
9. 
   C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, HarperOne, ISBN-13: 978-0060652968.
   
10. 
    Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men, Vintage, ISBN-13: 978-0307387134.
    
11. 
    Supplementary readings (optional, PDF) from Immanuel Kant, Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone, will be posted on Chalk.
    
12. 
    Peter De Vries, The Blood of the Lamb, University of Chicago Press, ISBN-13: 978-0226143880.
    

Comments about the Book List:

1. 
   It is not necessary to purchase all of these books, of course. In many cases, they are available on line.
   
2. 
   The book list that follows, below, incudes many of the texts we would read if the course were three times as long as it is. In other words, it supplements our texts.
   
3. 
   Augustine: If you haven’t read The Confessions, now is as good a time as any to read it. We’ll be discussing selections from Books II and VII. These are available on line, as noted above.
   
4. 
   Aquinas: We cannot possible spend enough time on Thomas Aquinas. I have assigned Questions 2-4 of Summa Theologiae, Part I of Part I as background reading, but if you have extra time (ha, ha), I highly recommend Questions 5-12. Questions 45-49 represent some of his central ideas on evil. This is only a very small portion of the Summa Theologiae – and of this small portion, we will barely have time to scratch the surface. If you want to purchase a copy, the information on one of the standard (though flawed) versions in English translation is given below.
   
5. 
   Selections from the writings of Leibniz, Bayle, and Kant will be provided on Chalk, but if you want more, editions are listed below. In addition, these authors are freely available on the web:
   
   1. 
      For Liebniz’s Theodicy, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/17147
      
   2. 
      For Bayle, A Historical and Critical Dictionary, http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/efts/ARTFL/projects/dicos/BAYLE/search.fulltext.form.html
      
   3. 
      For Kant, Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone, http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~ppp/rbbr/toc.html
      
6. 
   The literature on the problem of evil is endless, and the subgroup of writings on the holocaust is enormous too. To supplement the reading by Hannah Arendt, I recommend the following: Elie Wiesel, Night (for those few of you who have never read it), and David Cesarini, Becoming Eichmann, who addresses Hannah Arendt’s book and takes her to task. Another author who writes on this topic, from a rather unusual perspective, is Imre Kertesz. He is a recent Nobel Prize winner, and just died this year; his best-known novel (in this country) is Fatelessness. Information on these books is given below.
   
7. 
   In the last week, we will return to one of our starting points: the suffering of children and animals. C.S. Lewis is one of the first authors who addressed the problem of animal suffering. If we had time, we would read an outstanding book by Mary Midgley below, Animals and Why They Matter. She thinks deeply about the status of animals in the moral universe, and and what, if anything, distinguishes them from human beings.
   
8. 
   I’ve given a few additional books, below, on human nature and biotechnology. These topics will have a major impact on how we view the problem of evil.
   

Additional Reading / Recommended

1. 
   Feodor Dostoevsky, Brothers Karamzov (translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky), Farrar, Straus and Giroux, ISBN-13: 978-0374528379.
   
2. 
   Job (The Anchor Bible, Vol. 15); Introduction, translation and notes by Marvin H. Pope; Anchor Bible; Revised edition, 1965
   
3. 
   Augustine, Confessions (translated by R.S. Pine-Coffin), Penguin Classics, ISBN-13: 978-0140441147.
   
4. 
   Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Fathers of the English Dominican Province (Benzinger Brothers), Ave Maria Press, 978-0870610691. For some shorter versions, consider the following:
   
   1. 
      Summa Theologiae: A Concise Translation, Timothy McDermott, ed., Christian Classics, ISBN-13: 9780870612107
      
   2. 
      A Summa of the Summa: The Essential Philosophical Passages of St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa, Peter Kreeft, Ignatius Press, ISBN-13: 978-0898703009.
      
   3. 
      Aquinas: Shorter Summa: St. Thomas Aquinass Own Concise Version of His Summa Theologica, Sophia Institute Press, ISBN-13: 978-1928832430.
      
   4. 
      Basic Writings of Saint Thomas Aquinas: God and the Order of Creation, Anton Charles Pegis (Editor), Hackett Publishing Company, ISBN-13: 978-0872203808.
      
5. 
   Pierre Bayle, Historical and Critical Dictionary: Selections, Hackett Publishing Company, ISBN-13: 9780672604065
   
6. 
   G. W. Leibniz, Theodicy, Echo Press, ISBN-13: 978-1406875638.
   
7. 
   Pierre Bayle, Historical and Critical Dictionary: Selections, Hackett Publishing Company, ISBN-13 : 9780672604065
   
8. 
   Immanuel Kant, Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone, HarperOne, ISBN-13: 978-0061300677.
   
9. 
   Albert Camus, The Plague, Vintage, ISBN-13: 978-0679720218.
   
10. 
    Elie Wiesel, The Night Trilogy: Night/Dawn/Day, Hill & Wang, ISBN-13 : 978-0809073641.
    
11. 
    David Cesarani, Becoming Eichmann, Da Capo Press, ISBN-13: 978-0306815393.
    
12. 
    Imre Kertesz, Fatelessness, Vintage, ISBN-13 : 978-1400078639.
    
13. 
    Mary Midgley, Animals and Why They Matter, University of Georgia Press, ISBN-13: 9780820320410.
    
14. 
    John Paul II, The Gospel of Life: Evangelium Vitae, Pauline Books & Media, ISBN-13: 978-0819830784
    
15. 
    Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go, Vintage, ISBN-13: 978-1400078776.
    
16. 
    Leon R. Kass, Human Cloning and Human Dignity: The Report of the President's Council on Bioethics, PublicAffairs, ISBN-13: 978-1586481766.