The Evils of Theodicy

by Terrence W. Tilley

Overview

The thesis of this book is straightforward: Professor Tilley argues that theodicy as a discourse practice creates evils while theodicists ignore or distort classic texts in the Christian tradition, unwittingly efface genuine evils in their attempts to justify God, and silence the voice of the suffering and the oppressed by writing them out of the theological picture. The result is often a theological legitimation of intolerable social evils.

Using speech-act theory, Tilley reveals the practical and moral presuppositions and implications behind the communicative actions of speaking and writing that have yielded our classic texts relating God and evils: the Book of Job, Augustine's Enchiridion, Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, Hume's Dialogues, and George Eliot's Adam Bede. Tilley's analysis shows how distant the powerful speech acts embedded in these texts are from the Enlightenment discourse which has translated them into theodicy discourse.

For too long theodicists have created a picture that misportrays the evils in God's world by dividing evil neatly into human sin and natural suffering. Such a picture obscures and even legitimates the "social sin" and "evil practices" which corrupt and destroy humans individually and collectively. The point of The Evils of Theodicy is not only to describe the theodicists' world but to change it radically.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781725205567
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	03/07/2000
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	292
File size:	39 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Terrence W. Tilley is Professor of Theology and Chair of the Department at Fordham University. His other books include Talking of God, Story Theology, The Evils of Theodicy, Inventing Catholic Tradition, History, Theology and Faith, and The Disciples' Jesus: Christology as Reconciling Practice.
Terrence W. Tilley is Professor of Theology and Chair of the Department at Fordham University. His other books include Talking of God, Story Theology, The Evils of Theodicy, Inventing Catholic Tradition, History, Theology and Faith, and The Disciples' Jesus: Christology as Reconciling Practice.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	xi
	Introduction	1
Part 1	Speech Act Theory	7
1.	Words Are Deeds	9
	Introduction: Speech Act Theory	9
	Language and Linguistic Acts	10
	The Social Situation of Speech Acts	15
	Perlocutionary Results	20
	Conclusions	25
2.	Institutionally Bound Speech Acts in Religion	33
	Speech Acts Bound to Religious Institutions	34
	Institutionally Bound Directives	35
	Institutionally Bound Assertives	38
	Institutionally Bound Commissives	39
	Institutionally Bound Expressives	42
	Institutionally Bound Declaratives	46
	On Being Responsible for Institutionally Bound Speech Acts	50
3.	Institutionally Free Speech Acts in Religion	55
	An Institutionally Free Directive: Petitionary Prayer	56
	An Institutionally Free Assertive: Religious Preaching	63
	An Institutionally Free Commissive: Pledging	67
	An Institutionally Free Expressive: Swearing	69
	An Institutionally Free Declarative: Confessions	70
	The Morality of Speaking and the Cognitivity of Religious Language	76
Part 2	Remembering Dismembered Texts	83
	Introduction to Part Two	85
4.	Considering Job: Does Job Fear God for Naught?	89
	Job: A Text Made, not Found	90
	The Book of Job from Job's Perspective	91
	God's "Verdict" on Job's Speaking	102
	The Book of Job from the Framework Perspective	105
	Considering Job	106
5.	Augustine's Authoritative Defense	113
	Augustine and Augustinian Theodicy	113
	Enchiridion as an Instruction on the Nature of Evil	118
	Enchiridion as an Instruction on the Redemption of Evil	125
	The Logic of Enchiridion	130
	Reading Enchiridion	133
6.	Philosophy as Consolation in Misfortune: Boethius' Script for Reinscribing a Self	141
	The Prisoner's Progress: The Therapy of Philosophy	142
	The Prisoner's Regress: The Loss of Voice	148
	A Script for Reinscribing a Self	150
	The Performer of the Consolation	154
7.	Hume's Challenges	165
	On Analyzing an Argument in the Dialogues	167
	Points in a Conversation about Misfortune, Suffering and God	168
	On Hearing Hume's Voices	177
	The Reality of Evil and Faith in God	181
8.	Giving Voice to the Victim: Consolation without Falsification	189
	The Methodist and the Murderess	190
	Speaking to Give Voice to the Voiceless	194
	"It Can Never Be Undone"	201
	On Writing for Victims	208
Part 3	The Discourse of Theodicy	217
	Introduction to Part Three	219
9.	The Evils of Theodicy	221
	Constructing Theodicies	221
	Theodicy as a Discourse Practice	229
	Theodicy as Assertive Declaration	235
	On Counteracting Theodicy	247
	Works Consulted	257
	Index	273