These protestors are people that reject God’s saying but then again they do not. An example is when God is allows Satan to make him allow the manner of evil to be heaped on God. In Job it explains that suffering is a test or trail of faith. Suffering as a Test is the balance of the good and evil with also suffering. The explanation of suffering that it is a challenge by the whole movement, nevertheless it is perfect for the popular appeal. Suffering for Sin was the traditional answer for the book Deuteronomy. The main ones are Suffering for Sin, Theodicy of Protest, and Suffering as a Test.
For Western monotheism, the issue with theodicy is that it is sharply put by philosopher David Hume: “Is God willing to prevent evil but not able? He is able, but not willing (Livingston 2009)?” Four theodicies are suggested in Job which are Suffering as Recompense for Sin, Suffering as a Test and as a Necessary Condition of “Soul-Making”, A Theodicy of Submission, Theodicy of Protest, The Free Will Defense, and Process Theodicy. The last big important section is monotheistic theodicies. This is postponed until the future but is not some other heaven. Millenarian form of theodicy is compensation for the suffering. We do know that this theodicy is a dominant one from at least of the two biblical faiths. It is easy to put religion with biblical sense that the belief of evils and sufferings of this life will be forgotten in the future life. Theodicies of participation are present in forms of mystical that emphasizes absorption. This type of theodicy is common in primal societies. Peter Berger speaks that we are not as unique but rather participation and identification with society. In this section individuals are to think of themselves as a “typical case”.
The next section is about the mystical participation of theodicy. An example of a theodicy is when a person explains a drought of judgment of God. In Buddhism and Christianity have complex doctrines that represent an unsophisticated of an ordinary people. A theodicy basically does is place our own life that is driven by suffering and a threat to chaos. The first sentence starts off saying how suffering and evil have tortured and oppressed our human body and the human spirit. In the first section it is talking about the demand for Theodicy. In this week’s reading we are talking about Theodicy: Encountering Evil.