46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, excellent!, July 19, 2005
This review is from: The Doors of the Sea: Where Was God in the Tsunami? (Hardcover)
This is the best work on theodicy I've ever read; and I mean book ON theodicy instead of a book OF theodicy-- Hart's main thesis is that any attempt to reconcile God's infinite goodness with the evils of the world by nature goes against the Christian revelation of the Father who is all light, in whom there is no darkness, in the face of an exceedingly dark world which has separated itself from God. I thought throughout some parts of the book that it would be better if he would expand a bit (as C.S. Lewis in _The Problem of Pain_ and others did) on how it was possible for Adam (created with no inclination towards evil, and certainly no corrupted gnomic will in the sense that we have one) to choose self over God and thereby create a rift between God and man. However, I realized by the end that to do so would be to trivialize-- it is wrong to cooly explain away evil when one should instead attack it and call it out for what it is. Nevertheless, more mentions of the fall, I think, would have made an already fantastic book even better (as, without the fall, the spiritual battle between God and the devil becomes mere Manicheanism. This was, however, addressed a few times in the book, though perhaps not in terms that a theologically illiterate reader could understand or even pick up on.)
I recommend this book to anyone, Christian and non-Christian... I don't understand why Hart is not better known among American theologians, and particularly in the English-speaking Orthodox world, which should be rejoicing that we finally have our own C.S. Lewis-like theologian, instead of just pretending that Lewis was ours. :)
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply outstnding, September 12, 2005
This review is from: The Doors of the Sea: Where Was God in the Tsunami? (Hardcover)
Do not be misled by the title. Hart provides the most sensible and satisfactory logic on the role of God in creating and disposing of tragedy. He disposes of Mackie's famous "if God is indeed omnipotent, he manifestly is not good, and if he is good he manifestly is not omnipotent. En route he deals with Voltaire, Dostoevsky, Calvin, fundamentalists, original sin and many other ideas. I have read it twice and I will go back to learn even more. Not a hard read but you must pay attention.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliantly Poetic While Theologically Profound, January 4, 2009
This review is from: The Doors of the Sea: Where Was God in the Tsunami? (Hardcover)
David Bentley Hart is unquestionably one of the most brilliant theological and philosophical minds in America today. This is a fine introduction into his thought through the medium of an important topic.
The purpose for writing this book was to expand the thoughts of a NY Times article that Hart was asked by a friend to write following the tragedy of the 2004 Christmas Tsunami. The monstrous event was followed by hasty responses from people of various philosophical and religious traditions. From one perspective, some atheists wrote that this was clear evidence that God does not exist, as though the multitudes of religious believers worldwide had never considered the gravity of evil in the world, and the implications for such a reality on their belief. From another perspective, some theologians were claiming that God predestined such a catastrophe and that the piles of infant and children bodies were somehow a testimony to God's sovereignty and glory. In light of these seemingly polar opposite arguments (despite their similar theological view of god), Hart responds by expounding on the Christian intellectual tradition against these two opposing views. Hart clearly reserves his greatest criticism for those theologians who distort the Christian tradition to portray God as not subversively working against such tragedy, but willing and using such tragedies.
Hart discusses Voltaire's response to the Lisbon earthquake (a similarly tragic event), positioning it within its historical context, highlighting Voltaire's disdain for the typical theological answers offered to him by those who had a heightened sense of theological optimism and claimed that every evil had a good purpose. Hart then discusses how the god who wills and has a purpose in such tragedies must also be rejected, if not through denying his existence, at least in by denying him allegiance. Hart builds this argument through the thought of Fyodor Dostoevsky (particularly through the words of Ivan Karamazov in
The Brothers Karamazov). Few would disagree that the words of Ivan Karamazov present the problem of evil as well as anyone before or since. I will leave for you to read how Hart shows that such an argument by Ivan Karamazov is inherently Christian at its core whether Ivan would admit it or not.
In the second section on Divine Victory, Hart is concerned to argue that God is free of blame for natural evil, while not diminishing the anger that every Christian should feel at such an event. Hart, focusing on the traditions of Maximus the Confessor, Isaac the Syrian and Thomas Aquinas, does an outstanding job of showing how the Christian intellectual tradition stands together with those who are angered and in deep pain concerning such events.
The book is short, although some have complained that the language makes it too dense to read despite its brevity. I would disagree, and whereas I accept that reading Hart may require keeping a dictionary at hand, such a challenge should not dissuade the reader from finishing the work and pondering his argument.
Unfortunately, the brevity of this work also means that not all questions about the theological aspects of Hart's argument can be resolved. As such, I would suggest the theological reader also read Hart's
The Beauty Of The Infinite: The Aesthetics Of Christian Truth.
I would also suggest that the reader have a basic understanding of philosophy and theology before reading the book. The terminology may be unfamiliar to some who are not familiar with these fields and thus they would find the reading more difficult than it is intended to be. This would not diminish my willingness to suggest the book to those thinking through this issue. Few authors have made such a compelling case in such a succinct and beautiful manner.
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