Code
Undergraduate: CT3029W
Postgraduate: CT9029W
Postgraduate: CT9029W
Level
Undergraduate and Postgraduate
Discipline
Systematic Theology (CT)
Field
Christian Thought and History (C)
Prerequisites
Undergraduate: 36 points (two standard units) in CT
Postgraduate: 72 points (three standard units) in Foundational Studies, including 48 points in CT
Postgraduate: 72 points (three standard units) in Foundational Studies, including 48 points in CT
Faculty
Jason Goroncy view profile >
Class Time
2021: Three hours per week
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Learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of this unit, it is expected that students will be able to:
Undergraduate
- Critically examine some of the ‘theodicies’ and ‘anti-theodicies’ that have been proposed within selected Christian traditions.
- Demonstrate where the theological challenges lie in selected intersections between suffering, faith, and evil.
- Articulate a robust theological response to the problem of evil and suffering.
Postgraduate
- Critically examine some of the ‘theodicies’ and ‘anti-theodicies’ that have been proposed within selected Christian traditions.
- Demonstrate where the theological challenges lie in selected intersections between suffering, faith, and evil.
- Articulate a robust, independent and critical theological response to the problem of evil and suffering.
- Demonstrate competencies for postgraduate-level research and writing.
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Assessment
Undergraduate
- Annotated Bibliography (1,000 words) (25%)
- Document Study (1,000 words) (25%)
- Essay (3,000 words) (50%)
Postgraduate
- Annotated Bibliography (1,500 words) (30%)
- Document Study (1,000 words) (20%)
- Essay (4,500 words) (50%)
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Recommended reading
- Adams, Marilyn McCord. Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999.
- Augustine. On the Free Choice of the Will, On Grace and Free Choice, and Other Writings, Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
- Fiddes, Paul S. The Creative Suffering of God. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988.
- Forsyth, P.T. The Justification of God: Lectures for War-Time on a Christian Theodicy. London: Duckworth, 1916.
- Hart, David Bentley. The Doors of the Sea: Where Was God in the Tsunami? Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2005.
- Levenson, Jon D. Creation and the Persistence of Evil: The Jewish Drama of Divine Omnipotence. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994.
- MacKinnon, Donald M. Borderlands of Theology. Edited by George W. Roberts and Donovan E. Smucker. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1968.
- Sölle, Dorothee. Suffering. Translated by E. Kalin. London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1975.
- Swinton, John. Raging with Compassion: Pastoral Responses to the Problem of Evil. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2007.
- Weil, Simone. Waiting for God. Translated by Emma Craufurd. London: Harper Perennial, 2001.
Set texts recommended for purchase: Nil