This unit proceeds on the premise that the Christian community must learn to speak responsibly about suffering: both the suffering in its midst and its being in the midst of suffering. It (i) critically examines some of the ‘Christian’ theodicies (from St Augustine to Thomas Aquinas, Alvin Plantinga, John Cobb, Catherine Keller, Marilyn McCord Adams, David Bentley Hart, and others) and anti-theodicies (from Fyodor Dostoevsky to Theodor Adorno, D.Z. Phillips, Donald MacKinnon, Kazoh Kitamori, Simone Weil, Jürgen Moltmann, Paul Fiddes and others) that have been proposed; (ii) enquires to what extent they are determined by the action of God’s becoming incarnate; and (iii) explores the nature of faith faced with the realities to which theodicies have attempted to speak.
Unit code: CT9029W
Unit status: Approved (New unit)
Points: 24.0
Unit level: Postgraduate Elective
Unit discipline: Systematic Theology
Delivery Mode: Face to Face
Proposing College: Whitley College
Show when this unit is running1. | Critically examine some of the ‘theodicies’ and ‘anti-theodicies’ that have been proposed within selected Christian traditions |
2. | Demonstrate where the theological challenges lie in selected intersections between suffering, faith and evil |
3. | Articulate a robust, independent and critical theological response to the problem of evil and suffering |
4. | Demonstrate competencies for postgraduate-level research and writing |
72 points in Foundational Studies including 48 points in CT
The unit will comprise of weekly lectures (2 hours) plus a tutorial (1 hour), both engaging with the topic for that module. Weekly readings will be assigned. These will form the basis of the tutorial discussions.
Type | Description | Word count | Weight (%) |
---|---|---|---|
Essay | Essay 4,500 words |
4500 | 50.0 |
Annotated Bibliography | Annotated Bibliography 1,500 words |
1500 | 30.0 |
Document Study | Document Study 1,000 words |
1000 | 20.0 |
Unit approved for the University of Divinity by John Capper on 30 Sep, 2019
Unit record last updated: 2019-10-15 08:39:55 +1100