What I've been doing for a month and a half: Moltmann.
From The Trinity and the Kingdom, p. 49:
God and suffering beyond together, just as in this life the cry for God and the suffering experienced in pain belong together. The question about God and the question about suffering are a joint, a common question. And they only find a common answer. Either that, or neither of them finds a satisfactory answer at all. No one can answer the theodicy question in this world, and no one can get rid of it. Life in this world means living with this open question, and seeking the future in which the desire for God will be fulfilled, suffering will be overcome, and what has been lost will be restored. The question of theodicy is not a speculative question; it is a critical one. It is the all-embracing eschatological question. It is not purely theoretical, for it cannot be answered with any new theory about the existing world. It is a practical question which will only be answered through experience of the new world in which 'God will wipe away every tear from their eyes'. It is not really a question at all, in the sense of something we can ask or not ask, like other questions. It is the open wound of life in this world. It is the real task of faith and theology to make it possible for us to survive, to go on living, with this open wound. The person who believes will not rest content with any slickly explanatory answer to the theodicy question. And he will also resist any attempts to soften the question down. The more a person believes, the more deeply he [sic] experiences pain over the suffering in the world, and the more passionately he asks about God and the new creation.
This summer at somefolks.blogspot.com: Block quotes from Jurgen Moltmann! Yay!
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2 comments:
what a wonderful quotation!
i remember once, while i was puzzling and trying to make sense out of the disgustingly polluted state of the ganges river, which despite all its reverence is fouled beyond belief by humans, i was struck with the parallelism between that septic river and the sacred heart.
bleeding, ravaged, raw, scoured by thorns of senseless violence and hate, yet tenaciously and powerfully alive, indomitable, generous, and patient, timelessly lovingly patient.
wow, the open wound of suffering...i can relate to that here in nicaragua. the whole country is one big open wound right now and my heart just aches.
thanks for sharing your reflections.
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