Animal Suffering and the Darwinian Problem of Evil
ANIMAL SUFFERING AND THE DARWINIAN PROBLEM OF EVIL by John R. Schneider. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2020. xii + 287 pages. Hardcover; $99.99. ISBN: 9781108487603. Kindle; $60.49. ISBN: 9781108767439. *In Animal Suffering and the Darwinian Problem of Evil, John Schneider seeks to tack...
Gespeichert in:
Veröffentlicht in: | Perspectives on science and Christian faith 2021-03, Vol.73 (1), p.60-62 |
---|---|
1. Verfasser: | |
Format: | Artikel |
Sprache: | eng |
Schlagworte: | |
Online-Zugang: | Volltext |
Tags: |
Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
|
Zusammenfassung: | ANIMAL SUFFERING AND THE DARWINIAN PROBLEM OF EVIL by John R. Schneider. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2020. xii + 287 pages. Hardcover; $99.99. ISBN: 9781108487603. Kindle; $60.49. ISBN: 9781108767439. *In Animal Suffering and the Darwinian Problem of Evil, John Schneider seeks to tackle four interconnected difficulties of reconciling evolution with a Christian understanding of God's creation: (1) deep evolutionary time and the startling reality that there have been hundreds of millions of years of violence; (2) the "plurality of worlds," the masses of now-extinct life that once inhabited our planet; (3) the discovery of "anti-cosmic micro-monsters," the realization that microbial life shares the violent and competitive world that macro scale life experiences; and (4) "evil inscribed," the discovery that natural selection is the very driving mechanism of creation, if evolution is to be believed. *Schneider does not set out to create a theodicy, in the technical jargon of the field, but follows Michael Murray's lead in his 2008 Nature Red in Tooth and Claw and seeks a "causa Dei": a possible reason for God to allow animal suffering that is more plausible than not. Schneider does not claim to know the actual reasons for natural evil, but only suggests probable reasons. The central suggestion is that, in line with Marilyn McCord Adams's work, evil must be defeated for God to be justified. Evil is defeated when it is "a constitutive part of a valuable composite whole that not only outweighs the evil but could not be as valuable as it is without the evil" (p. 7). *Schneider spends the first six chapters setting out his space in the existing literature. He gives convincing reasons for avoiding animal theodicies that depend on a human or Satanic fall, which he finds "implausible in the extreme" (p. 100) for philosophical, scientific, and biblical reasons. He also rejects the "only way" approach developed by Christopher Southgate. Rather, he sees chaos (symbolized by the figure of the serpent in Genesis 2) as "incorporated into the original, 'very good' cosmic design" (p. 107). To defend this thesis, he develops an aesthetic approach to the problem of evil. God should be viewed as an artist, in which natural good and evil "create an overall picture of evolution as something like a larger story" (p. 155). Both the beauty and ugliness of nature call us to recognize a tragic sublime that helps us "see" a sense of divinity in the world. Schneider draws o |
---|---|
ISSN: | 0892-2675 0892-2675 |
DOI: | 10.56315/PSCF3-21Schneider |