Unorthodox Theologians and Approaches

[xypathos]

So I'm getting together with a former professor for a Directed Study on a project that we've tentatively titled, "Unorthodox Theologians and Approaches." Her (the professor) and I have a mutual interest in the myriad of approaches to theodicy, particularly in lesser know theological explorations that may/can influence an argument that engages with the problem of evil.

Now, obviously the the Augustinian and Irenaean approaches are known. Lesser known approaches are Open Theism which is in itself a modification of free will, though some "attack" omniscience while others, such as Vincent Brummer, suggest our understanding of omnipotence needs to be reworked. There is of course Pandeism as well, though while already established in Asian contexts, some have engaged with it in a more Christian fashion.

We won't be meeting for about a month to hash out a tentative reading list but given the wealth of interests here, I wanted to solicit suggestions for other writers I could bring to our meeting. They don't need to be theologians in the strict definition of the word and they don't even necessarily need to be Christian. As well, they don't need to have written directly on theodicy - that's more or less the aim of the course, to develop the connection between the source and our interest in evil/suffering.

[marXian]

Sounds interesting! I work in the Christian tradition, so that's what I got:

Alfred North Whitehead comes to mind, though he's come into view a little more thanks to people like Phillip Clayton and Catherine Keller.

I don't know what tradition you're from if any, but some traditions find Kant's treatment of evil Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone somewhat unfamiliar, or perhaps unworthy of consideration--of course, if you're from a broadly liberal or mainline tradition, then Kant is likely more familiar. He's certainly quite often considered "unorthodox" however, even among liberal theologians.

Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and/or his essays on theodicy from Sociology of Religion might be interesting to include as a means of reflecting on the sociological consequences of the popular circulation of ideas about the problem of evil.

A friend of mine put together a panel for AAR this year comparing Jewish and Black philosophies of hope and pessimism, and including some of those figures might be interesting since hope and pessimism are more or less responses to theodicy.

For example, Ernst Bloch's The Spirit of Utopia, some of Walter Benjamin's fragments or other Jewish philosophies of hope/pessimism might be interesting. I'd recommend Rosenzweig's Star of Redemption, but you could spend ten courses working through that so maybe not. W.E.B. Dubois, James Baldwin, Frantz Fanon could all also be really great conversation partners in considering these issues from a Western but non-white perspective.

I'd love to see a list when you settle on it!

[menge]

Arthur Schopenhauer (The World as Will and Representation, for example) might make for interesting reading as well, especially as something that builds on Kant. He has some interesting humanistic ideas about how the ascetic might transcend the problem of evil. Sounds like a great reading list, I'd be interesting in seeing what you come up with if you care to share when its finalized. 

[sacklunch]

Do you want ancient recommendations as well? You mention a couple, but I get the feeling you are looking for modern perspectives. 

[xypathos]

On 10/15/2016 at 4:15 PM, sacklunch said:

Do you want ancient recommendations as well? You mention a couple, but I get the feeling you are looking for modern perspectives. 

Ancient recommendations will of course be gladly welcomed!

[dr. t]

I've always had a soft spot for the theological constructions of Anselm of Canterbury, who was very interested in solving the loose threads Augustine left.

Edited October 21, 2016 by telkanuru

[sacklunch]

On 10/18/2016 at 1:15 AM, xypathos said:

Ancient recommendations will of course be gladly welcomed!

Most of the sources mentioned are well-known (many for good reasons). If you're interested in some "Eastern" (e.g. Syriac) perspectives from late antiquity, I suggest Aphrahat, Ephrem, and the Pseudo-Clementines. Each is becoming much more popular in scholarly literature, but they are usually approached by social historians and philologists; thus I would think there is a lot of interesting work to be done. Such traditions are also frequently implicated with stronger ties to Judaism (in all its various flavors), which raises a number of (potentially) interesting questions. There is also the vast rabbinic material, which might offer some interesting parallels (and esp. strong differences); but, to be honest, it's so large and terrifying to the uninitiated that it might obscure more than it helps (in any case, if you do engage this material, be wary of only reading Jacob Neusner). 

[xypathos]

Since a couple expressed an interest in a reading list, here's the texts we've agreed on thus far: 

John Caputo - Insistence of God

Ilia Delio - The Unbearable Wholeness

Ivone Gebara - Out of the Depths

Richard Kearney - Returning to God after God

W. E. B. Du Bois - The Souls of Black Folk

Frantz Fanon - Black Skin, White Masks

Thomas Jay Oord - The Uncontrolling Love of God

We're looking to add, at max, three more texts though likely two.

Half jokingly but seriously, I'm making a push for The Little Prince because I think there's a lot at work in such a small novel. I'm also interested in Bernard Haisch's The God Theory but perhaps it's more scientific than theological though I haven't read it.