Theodicy at the margins: New trajectories for the problem of evil

Abstract

Traditional theological approaches to the problem of evil seek to reconcile the reality of evil with divine goodness and omnipotence. Recent work in theodicy, however, has expressed deep dissatisfaction with theoretical "solutions" that operate in abstraction from real life situations of suffering. In this article I sketch a new category in theodicy that offers fresh perspectives on a theologically and philosophically stalled issue. Rather than formulate the problem of evil in global, abstract terms, theodicies at the margin formulate it in terms of particular, concrete situations of oppression. It draws from the theoretical resources of black, liberation, and feminist theology in particular to construct theodicies that speak to these marginalized groups in their irreducible particularity.