Course Syllabus

 

 

Iliff School of Theology

Theodicy and Tragedy

Winter 2015

Rev. Dr. Jason C. Whitehead, Ph.D

jwhitehead@iliff.edu

 

 

“Without pain, how could we know joy?' This is an old argument in the field of thinking about suffering and its stupidity and lack of sophistication could be plumbed for centuries but suffice it to say that the existence of broccoli does not, in any way, affect the taste of chocolate.” 
― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

 

“The whole image is that eternal suffering awaits anyone who questions God's infinite love. That's the message we're brought up with, isn't it? Believe or die! Thank you, forgiving Lord, for all those options.” 
― Bill Hicks

 

“The nature of compassion isn't coming to terms with your own suffering and applying it to others: It's knowing that other folks around you suffer and, no matter what happens to you, no matter how lucky or unlucky you are, they keep suffering. And if you can do something about that, then you do it, and you do it without whining or waving your own fuckin' cross for the world to see. You do it because it's the right thing to do.” 
― John Connolly, Dark Hollow

 

 
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 Required Books:

  • Bloom, Paul. (2012). Just babies: The origins of good and evil. Crown Press ISBN-13: 978- 0307886842
  • Moe-Lobeda, Cynthia (2013). Resisting Structural Evil: Love as Ecological-Economic Vocation. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. ISBN-10: 1451462670
  • Poole, Adrian. (2005), Tragedy: A very short introduction. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2005. 0192802356
  • Wiesel, Elie.  (2006). Night.  A New Translation by Marion Wiesel; With a New Preface by the Author. New York : Hill and Wang, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. ISBN: 9780374500016. DS135.R73 W54813 
 
 

Course Summary:

Date Details Due