Animal suffering, God and lessons from the Book of Job

  • 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 atNature 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.show moreshow less

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Metadaten
Author:Georg GasserORCiDGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:bvb:384-opus4-910645
Frontdoor URLhttps://opus.bibliothek.uni-augsburg.de/opus4/91064
ISSN:2077-1444OPAC
Parent Title (English):Religions
Publisher:MDPI
Type:Article
Language:English
Date of first Publication:2021/11/25
Publishing Institution:Universität Augsburg
Release Date:2021/12/09
Tag:(dis)values in nature; animal theodicy; God in the Book of Job; non-anthropocentric view of God; holistic understanding of creation
Volume:12
Issue:12
First Page:1047
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12121047
Institutes:Katholisch-Theologische Fakultät
Katholisch-Theologische Fakultät / Systematische Theologie
Katholisch-Theologische Fakultät / Systematische Theologie / Professur für Philosophie
Dewey Decimal Classification:2 Religion / 20 Religion / 200 Religion
Licence (German):CC-BY 4.0: Creative Commons: Namensnennung (mit Print on Demand)