Malum: A Theological Hermeneutics of Evil

by Ingolf U. Dalferth

Publisher:

Cascade Books

, 2022

Overview

The incursion of evil has always caused people to turn to the divine, to gods or to a god, in order to reorientate their life. Ingolf U. Dalferth studies the complexity of this procedure in three thought processes that deal with the central concepts in the Christian understanding of malum as privation (a lack of good), as evil-doing, and as a lack of faith. In doing so, he provides a detailed discussion of theories of theodicy, the argument from freedom, and the religious turn to God, in which the author explores the traces of the discovery of God’s goodness, justness, and love in connection with the malum experiences in ancient mythology and biblical traditions.

Key Features

• Studies the complexity of this procedure in three thought processes.
• Provides a detailed discussion of theories of theodicy.
• Explores the traces of the discovery of God's goodness, justness, and love.

Praise for Malum

In Malum, Dalferth applies a rigorous and unremitting intellectual passion to the so-called ‘problem’ of evil, covering an exceptional range of theological and existential sources. Malum shows that theodicy, long the focus of theological approaches to evil, has been a false friend and that the lived experience of how God overcomes existential experiences of evil offers both a sufficient and a better way. . . . Few books really merit the designation ‘paradigm shifting.’ This does.

—George Pattison, Honorary Professorial Research Fellow, University of Glasgow

Ingolf Dalferth is one of the most brilliant and prolific theologians of our time. Deeply versed in both analytic and continental philosophy and on the basis of his earlier studies on the experience of evil and its interpretation, he argues that overcoming evil does not mean the elimination of all suffering. This book is one of the most systematic and challenging contributions to an age-old field of thinking.

—Hans Joas, Ernst Troeltsch Professor for the Sociology of Religion, Humboldt University, Berlin

This is a monumental work by one of the outstanding and leading philosopher-theologians in the world today. It addresses the perennial problem: If God exists, whence evil? Dalferth is a thinker with roots in Barth und Juengel, whilst forging a distinctive analytic-hermeneutic position in philosophical theology. Written with subtlety, verve, and deep learning, here is a magisterial analysis of the great theories of theodicy from antiquity to the contemporary, and a trenchant and compelling proposal.

—Douglas Hedley, Professor of the Philosophy of Religion, Fellow of Clare College, University of Cambridge, United Kingdo

Product Details

• Title: Malum: A Theological Hermeneutics of Evil
• Author: Ingolf U. Dalferth
• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Print Publication Date: 2022
• Pages: 482
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• ISBNs: 9781725297128, 9781725297142, 1725297124, 1725297140, 9781725297135, 1725297132
• Resource ID: LLS:MLMTHLGCLHRMNVL
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-11-27T19:31:53Z

About Ingolf U. Dalferth

Ingolf U. Dalferth, is Danforth Professor Emeritus of Philosophy of Religion at Claremont Graduate University and Professor Emeritus at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Zurich. From 1998 to 2012 he was Director of the Institute for Hermeneutics and Philosophy of Religion at the University of Zurich. The University of Copenhagen and the University of Uppsala awarded him honorary doctorates.