Why does God allow that?
- Questions about theodicy in times of the COVID-19 pandemic
Abstract
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the author confronts the age-old discussion about the justice of a God who allows so much evil in the world. Doesn't the excessive suffering that many people experience completely call into question the omnipotent and benevolent God? For millennia people have been searching for a solution to this problem. The essay presents the debate that runs through the Bible and peaks in the book of Job, where the usual attempts of an explanation are discarded. The author draws on three contributions from the extensive theological discussion on this subject: those of Martin Luther, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Karl Barth. The conclusions drawn from these reflections lead to a rectification of the question "why does God allow this" and a transformation of the image of God. Today's global challenges demand that we think of God in a post-theistic way, which implies a different approach to suffering and evil in the world.
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