TH E S ECO N D I N A S ERI E S O F FO U R ARTICLE S BY PI ERRE G I LB ERT BASED ON CHAPTER T WO OF GOD NEVER MEANT FOR US TO DIE: THE EMERGENCE OF EVIL IN THE LIGHT OF THE CREATION ACCOUNT (EUGENE, OR: WIPF & STOCK , 2020), 28-46.
n my previous article, we saw that evil is viewed as either something that is intrinsic to human existence or purely as an illusion. There is almost a universal resignation (a capitulation?) to the idea that evil is an unavoidable and necessary component of human existence. To a great extent, Christian tradition has failed to offer a truly distinct perspective on evil. Augustine (354-430) postulated that all instances of evil have purpose and will eventually be woven into a greater whole that will attribute significance even to the most revolting acts of human cruelty. The second-century bishop, Irenaeus of Lyons, posited that God designed the world as a “sphere of soul-making” in which evil plays a quasi-tutoring role.1 Most theologians, philosophers, pastors, and ordinary Christians comfortably live between these two poles. I disagree with the view that evil is either a necessary part of human existence or an illusion. At the core of the thesis I offer in my recent book, God Never Meant for Us to Die, is the conviction that God never intended for humans to experience suffering and death, and that evil was never to be an inevitable component of God’s original plan for humanity. I am sure many of you are saying: “What a crazy idea! Is it not self-evident that pain, suffering, and adversity are fundamental to the human condition? Surely there must be a purpose for all the evil that human beings have experienced throughout history.” On the surface, the notion that there is purpose to evil makes sense and feels right. And yet, I categorically reject it, not on account of any personal feelings I may have about evil, but because of what the Genesis creation, by far the most revolutionary text ever to emerge in human history, tells us about evil and its emergence.
I
For most of its history, Christians have relied on the creation story to explain the presence of evil in the world: it was all about Adam and Eve choosing to eat a forbidden fruit and being cast out of the Garden of Eden. Every Christian knew that evil was somehow linked to the exercise of human free will. But this consensus no longer exists. A significant number of theologians and philosophers have sharply veered away from a historical fall to account for the presence of evil in the world. The world-renowned philosopher, Paul Ricoeur, suggests that the significance of the creation story can only be understood if “we completely renounce projecting the Adamic figure into history.”2 Old Testament scholar, Walter Brueggemann, agrees. He contends that the Old Testament “is not concerned with origins but with faithful responses and effective coping. 3 1 John Hick, Evil and the God of Love (New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1966), 372. 2 Paul Ricoeur, “‘Original Sin’: A Study in Meaning,” in Paul Ricoeur: The Conflict of Interpretations, ed. by Don Ihde (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1974), 284. 3 Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, Interpretation (Atlanta: John Knox, 1982), 41.
10
DECEMBER 2020
M B H E R A L D.C O M
