Animal Suffering and the Problem of EvilNicola Hoggard Creegan offers a compelling examination of the problem of evil in the context of animal suffering, disease, and extinction and the violence of the evolutionary process. Using the parable of the wheat and the tares as a hermeneutical lens for understanding the tragedy and beauty of evolutionary history, she shows how evolutionary theory has deconstructed the primary theodicy of historic Christianity—-the Adamic fall—-while scientific research on animals has increased appreciation of animal sentience and capacity for suffering. Animal Suffering and the Problem of Evil responds to this new theodic challenge. Hoggard Creegan argues that nature can be understood as an interrelated mix of the perfect and the corrupted: the wheat and the tares. At times the good is glimpsed, but never easily nor unequivocally. She then argues that humans are not to blame for all evil because so much evil preceded human becoming. Finally, she demonstrates that faith requires a confidence in the visibility of the work of God in nature, regardless of how infinitely subtle and almost hidden it is, affirming that there are ways of perceiving the evolutionary process beyond that 'nature is red in tooth and claw.' |
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Contents
Introduction | 1 |
1 Animals in the Garden of Eden | 14 |
2 Humans Animals and Death Revisited | 27 |
3 Animal SufferingPhilosophical Responses | 44 |
4 Animal SufferingTheological Responses | 56 |
5 The Best of All Possible Worlds? | 71 |
ReImagining Nature | 82 |
7 A Picture Held Us Captive | 97 |
8 New Dynamics in Evolutionary Theory | 110 |
9 Dualism or Tares in Evolutionary History? | 127 |
10 The Fall and Beyond | 138 |
11 Concluding Ethical Reflections | 154 |
Epilogue | 173 |
Notes | 177 |
Index | 201 |
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Common terms and phrases
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Animal Suffering and the Problem of Evil |
| Author | Nicola Hoggard Creegan |
| Publisher | OUP USA, 2013 |
| ISBN | 0199931844, 9780199931842 |
| Length | 206 pages |
| Subjects | › › Religion / Christian Theology / General Religion / Christianity / History Religion / History Religion / Religion & Science Science / Life Sciences / Evolution |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |