This question of evil is one that has plagued mankind since the time he had started thinking in the patterns that led to the earliest philosophy. I though it necessary to cover it as soon as possible as a background against which to look at other books on Christianity, Jesus Christ, early Christianity and early philosophy. As Jews or Christians, we know the answer we believe is true, and that is from the fall of original sin, and we know that Jesus came to teach each man and woman how to defeat it in our own lives and this idea of the fall is one of the ideas that is covered in this course.
The following are the headings of the lectures with a summary of the lectures after the ones directly referring to the Judao-Chistian tradition.
- The nature and Origins of Evil
- “Enuma Elish”—Evil as Cosmic Battle
- Greece – Tragedy and “The Peloponnesian War”
- Greek Philosophy-Human Evil and Malice
- The Hebrew Bible—Human Rivalry with God
The Hebrew Bible roots evil in various forms of rebellion. In the Hebrew book of Genesis, see how the Fall actualizes an intrinsic potential for evil. Then consider three faces of rebellion: the rejection of God’s plan (the Fall), interhuman strife (Cain and Able), and direct rivalry with God (the Tower of Bable)
- The Hebrew Bible—Wisdom and the Fear of God
The Hebrew Bible also offers a contrasting view of evil and suffering – as phenomena reflecting the mysterious will of God. Explore the implications of the covenant between God and Abraham, and Abraham’s mandated sacrifice of Isaac. In the book of Job, see how Job’s faith is established through determined acceptance of suffering
7. Christian Scripture—Apocalypse and Original Sin
This lecture addresses the New Testament heritage on evil. Uncover the early Christian view of a cosmic struggle between God and darkness in the Gospels and the book of Revelation, noting numerous references to demonic powers. See how the doctrine of original sin is linked to the very goodness of Jesus.
8. The Inevitability of Evil – Irenaeus
The early Christian theologian Irenaeus of Lyon proposed an important ‘theodicy” or theory of evil. Discover the tenets of Irenaeu’s thinking, based in his view that the descent into sin is necessary for the fulfillment of human destiny. Study his conceptions of natural and moral evil, and the redemptive “tutelage” of suffering.
9. Creation, Evil, and the Fall—Augustine
Saint Augustine propounded another seminal “theodicy” of evil. Contemplate his two foundational claims: evil as “privation” of fundamental good, and evil as perversion of human nature toward the meaningless. Consider also his views on the rationale for evil, evil’s ultimate mysteriousness, and its interior implications for the doe
10. Rabbinic Judaism—The Evil Impulse
Rabbinic Judaism resists the Christian “cosmic drama” of sin and redemption. Study the rabbinic conceptions of tov (goodness/conscience) and ra (badness/self-interest), as each functions in human nature. Also grasp the notion of ra as a practical challenge of will and responsibility and an ultimate gift from God to mature humanity.
11. Islam—Iblis the Failed, Once-Glorious Being
12. On Self-Deception in Evil—Scholasticism
The monastic tradition of Christian scholasticism offers compelling views of satanic psychology. In the thought of Anselm of Lyon, explore the “logic” of Satan’s rebellion against God, rooted in bottomless, unspecified desire. In Thomas Aquinas, trace the psychology of Satan to a self-deceptive motive.
13. Dante—Hell and the Abandonment of Hope
Dante’s Inferno poetically elucidates Christian thinking on evil. In his observation of the damned, see how the literary “Dante” learns the meaning of both pity and piety. Then grasp the nature of Satan’s punishment, revealing Hell as a self-made crucible where the damned become what they internally want to be.
14. The Reformation—The Power of Evil Within
This lecture investigates the pivotal thought of reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin. In Luther’s works, discover his view of Satan as a subtle, inner force, working to induce delusive thought and action. Also study Calvin’s core conceptions of moral predestination and the innate depravity or corruptibility of the human spirit.
15. Dark Politics – Machiavelli on How to Be Bad
16. Hobbes- Evil as a Social Construct
17. Montaigne and Pascal – Evil and the Self
18. Milton—Epic Evil
Milton’s Paradise Lost is another deeply influential literary meditation on evil. Here, travel deeply into the psychic agony of Satan, in Milton’s complex portrait of temptation, choice, rebellion, and futility. Conclude with reflections on the distinction between satanic and human sin, and the Fall’s significance in God’s plan.
19. The Enlightenment and its discontents
20. Kant – Evil at the Root of human Agency
21. Hegel – The Slaughter Block of History
22. Marx – Materialism and Evil
23. The American North and South – Holy War
24. Nietzsche – Considering the Language of Evil
25. Dostoevsky – The Demonic in Modernity
26. Conrad – Incomprehensible Terror
27. Freud – The Death Drive and the Inexplicable
28. Camus – The Challenge to Take Evil Seriously
29. Post-WWII Protestant Theology on Evil
Three challenging perspectives: Explore Tillich’s conception of the demonic as human “possession” by dimensions of reality beyond the personal self; Barth’s vision of Das Nichtige (“the nothing”), a force opposing creation, to which God says “no”; and Niebuhr’s “diagnosis” of sin as rooted in the desire to escape our condition as both matter and spirit.
30. Post-WWII Roman Catholic Theology on Evil
In modern Catholicism, grasp theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar’s nuanced spirituality of hope, based in the conviction that God’s providence is so powerful that salvation is a possibility for all humanity. Then study Pope John Paul II’s precise delineation of “objectively” evil actions as a resource in the church’s larger public discourse.
31. Post-WWII Jewish Thought on Evil
The Holocaust radically challenged Jewish conceptions of evil, faith, and identity. Grapple with four major Jewish thinkers, confronting the apparent death of the God of the covenant, as they urge profound questioning, new understandings of faith, and a turning to fellow humans to find meaning in healing the world.
32. Arendt – The Banality of Evil
33. Life in Truth – 20th – Century Poets on Evil
34. Science and the Empirical Study of Evil
35. The “Unnaming” of Evil
36. Where can Hope Be Found?
On the lecturer:
Professor Charles Mathews is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies of the univesity of Virginia. An expert in theology and the philosophy of religion. professor mathews has received a wealth of honors,m including the Mead Honored Faculty Award – one of the University of Virginia’s highest teaching awards.
Traditional Thomistic Catholic 