{"id":80419,"date":"2020-09-25T17:03:27","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T14:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=80419"},"modified":"2020-09-25T17:03:27","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T14:03:27","slug":"theodicy-or-anti-theodicy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/theodicy-or-anti-theodicy\/","title":{"rendered":"Theodicy Or Anti-Theodicy?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The doctrine of retribution insists that God operates the world under a system of divine justice.\u00a0 Psalms famously begins by describing the righteous as \u201ca tree planted beside streams of water, which yield its fruit in season, whose foliage never fades and whatever it produces thrives. Not so the wicked; they are like chaff blown away by the wind.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ps. 11 fits squarely within this retribution model. It portrays the wicked threatening the righteous who are powerless to stop them:<\/span><\/p>\n

For see, the wicked bend the bow, they set their arrows on the string, to shoot from the shadows at the upright.\u00a0 When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous man do?<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet, the Psalmist insists that the evildoers will be destroyed in a spectacular and supernatural manner. God\u2019s motivation is clear: He is righteous. He loathes the wicked.\u00a0 Only the upright shall behold His face.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then why does God allow the wicked to threaten the righteous at all?<\/span><\/p>\n

Commentators have read v.5 (\u201c<\/span>t\u2019zadik yiv\u2019chan<\/span><\/i>\u201d) as providing a theological justification for such suffering: the righteous are tested and given an opportunity to improve. As Rav Soloveitchik has written: \u201cSuffering exists in the world to contribute something to man. To cleanse him, redeem him from impurities, from arrogance and depression.\u201d Suffering is not a sign of God\u2019s enmity. It is meaningful and cathartic, a gift which God in His lovingkindness bestows upon the righteous for their benefit.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the ennobling nature of suffering may be based upon an unrealistically optimistic view of the effects of suffering. While a modicum of redemption may accompany certain challenging experiences, it hardly seems commensurate with such losses as the death of a child or catastrophic events like tsunamis, wars and genocides.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a post-Holocaust world, many are unpersuaded – even repelled – by theodicies that insist on a conception of God as a just ruler, parent, spouse and\/or covenantal partner. A doctrine of anti-theodicy has been proposed. It refuses to explain the relationship between God and suffering or justify it in any way.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Is there scriptural license for such a doctrine?<\/span><\/p>\n

At the end of the Book of Job, God appears from the whirlwind and gives two speeches.\u00a0 Some have interpreted the speeches as signaling that the world is an arbitrary and senseless place where divine justice simply does not apply.\u00a0 After hearing this message, Job \u201crecants and relents,\u201d seemingly mollified by the harsh and amoral world God has described.\u00a0 Yishayahu Leibowitz suggested that Job grasps that he must submit to God not in anticipation of any recompense but simply because He is. Harold Kushner writes that perhaps Job\u2019s response is meant to \u201cforgive\u201d God for not making a world where the righteous are rewarded and only the wicked suffer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The lesson of Job is that man \u201cmust go on living despite it all,\u201d recognizing that the ability to forgive and love are the weapons given us by God to enable us to live fully, bravely, and meaningfully in this less-than-perfect world.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"Theodicy Or Anti-Theodicy?","main_caption":"The ability to forgive and love are the weapons given us by God to enable us to live fully, bravely, and meaningfully in this less-than-perfect world","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80419"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80419"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80421,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80419\/revisions\/80421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}