The Problem of Evil from a Panentheistic Perspective

'And there shall be no pain' (Rev 21:4) - suffering as the price for development

Scientific Essay from the year 2010 in the subject Philosophy - Miscellaneous, , language: English, abstract: The paper aims to provide a panentheistic perspective on the problem of evil and suffering. First the connection between the notion of God and good and evil is established. Further a definition of evil as 'something, which causes suffering' together with its implications is given. Subsequently the notion of moral evil and physical evil is provided, followed by the three classical views on evil, which are: (1) there is no evil; (2) God is responsible for evil; (3) humans are responsible for evil. Finally the panentheistic view on God is introduced, who is considered as a system (sys0) consisting of numerous dynamic subsystems (sys1-n). Consequently God is both impassible, being as sys0 in equilibrium, and empathic with all dynamic subsystems (sys1-n), where, due to His immanence, He is present. The concluding part shows the meaning of suffering in Christian doctrine of Redemption and Co-Redemption.