Theodicy and Human Suffering: Job, Vatican, and Beyond

Introduction: The Problem of Suffering and Theodicy

The existence of human suffering poses a unique theological problem. If God is omniscient, omnipotent, and all-loving, then why does suffering exist? This difficulty is confronted in scripture itself: perhaps the most memorable treatment of the problem of suffering comes in the Old Testament story of Job. Mainstream Christianity continues to have a variety of ways of approaching this theological question, although historically Christians held a much broader spectrum of responses. For example, today's mainstream Christianity is a result of the establishment of orthodoxy in the face of Gnostic Christians, who used the existence of suffering as a way of questioning whether God was indeed omnipotent or all-loving. Gnosticism instead posits a "demiurge" or "alien god" that created this world and its suffering without being omnipotent or good. The oldest mainstream form of Christian orthodoxy today — represented by the Roman Catholic faith — came into existence as a response to these early challenges to standard theology.

It is worth acknowledging one specialized vocabulary term central to this topic: theodicy. A theodicy is a defense of God's goodness in the face of the problem of human suffering. The term itself dates from the Enlightenment, when the idea that an all-loving being could be responsible for so much pain and wickedness came to seem something other than rational. The rationalist character of post-Enlightenment thought, which continues to this day, has necessitated a renewed approach to the most basic issue of theodicy — namely, whether God can actually be apprehended by human understanding. As this paper argues, the theological problem of suffering — of the extreme sort seen scripturally in the Book of Job — has been addressed not only by the Vatican but also by more mainstream theologians.

The Book of Job and the Limits of Human Reason

The problem of suffering as set forth in the Old Testament's Book of Job is described here as "extreme" because it encapsulates the nature of the theological problem in its sharpest form. Job is presented in scripture as having led a blameless and pious life. If God merely rewarded good persons for doing good things, then the Book of Job would make no sense whatsoever. The form of early Christianity eventually condemned as the Gnostic heresy can actually find a fair amount of scriptural support in the opening chapter of Job, which presents Job's suffering as part of a wager between God and Satan. Heretical sects like the Gnostics or Manichees simply separated the evil in the world from God's actual creation, attributing it to a lesser divine power — usually the devil. The Book of Job, however, does not indicate that Job's suffering is caused by the devil. Indeed, it is explicitly stated that God Himself sends the afflictions to test Job. God is proved correct against Satan that Job will not abandon his faith even under such a severe trial.

For those concerned with the application of reason to theology, however, God's answer to Job poses a problem:

Then the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind, and said:
Who is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskillful words?
Gird up thy loins like a man: I will ask thee, and answer thou me.
Where wast thou when I laid up the foundations of the earth? tell me if thou hast understanding.
Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
Upon what are its bases grounded? or who laid the corner stone thereof,
When the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody?¹

The problem here is that God does not actually offer Job a rational answer. Instead, God attacks Job's right to ask such questions altogether. In terms of philosophical logic, this is known as the argumentum ad hominem, in which the opposing speaker's arguments are ignored in favor of a personal attack on the speaker's motives or identity. As a result, we may wonder whether scripture even endorses the possibility of using reason and logic to approach the question of suffering at all.

Pope John Paul II and Salvifici Doloris

Pope John Paul II addresses this issue directly in his 1984 apostolic letter on human suffering, Salvifici Doloris — Latin for "redemptive suffering," referring to the suffering of Christ on the cross. Salvifici Doloris acknowledges the scriptural example of Job as a way of addressing God's purpose in permitting human suffering:

While it is true that suffering has a meaning as punishment, when it is connected with a fault, it is not true that all suffering is a consequence of a fault and has the nature of a punishment. The figure of the just man Job is a special proof of this in the Old Testament.²

John Paul II distinguishes here between the kind of suffering intended as punishment and the kind that may afflict those who are otherwise righteous and virtuous, as Job was. The difficulty then becomes distinguishing between the two, which is accomplished by assuming God is all-righteous and examining human beings instead — to determine whether they are wicked and deserved the suffering, or good and did not. God's purpose — whether punishment or not — can then be discerned.

For example, we need not consider John Paul II himself wicked in order to acknowledge that the last years of his papacy were marked by tremendous suffering from Parkinson's Disease. Instead, we might understand his personal suffering as intended by God for a greater educational purpose. John Paul II's successors as Pope have, unprecedentedly, respectively abdicated office (Benedict XVI) and announced the intention to abdicate office rather than die in it (Francis). Yet clearly they did not regard John Paul II's medical condition as proof of God's punishment — otherwise, John Paul II would not have been canonized so rapidly after his death.

Conclusion: Suffering as an Invitation to Faith

Thus the dynamic of suffering as understood in these texts appears to be that human beings — who are already minuscule in power and understanding compared to the majesty of God — really have no purpose except to worship God. When suffering seems like a punishment, humans should acknowledge God's justice. When suffering seems unfair, humans should acknowledge God's omnipotence. In either case, when reason fails to provide meaning for the suffering, renewing faith becomes the meaning itself.

Turning from the sacred to the secular, this dynamic is even recognized, in a distorted form, among secular humanists. The tremendous popularity of the Fifty Shades of Grey series reflects a fundamental human understanding of how pain — delivered as punishment or delivered gratuitously — can become an incentive for obedience, fidelity, and love. In Christianity Today, Kim Gaines Eckert comments upon these popular novels from the standpoint of Christian teaching, noting that "Jesus repeatedly chose to demonstrate power paradoxically: by giving up power out of his love for others."⁴ Those books are secular because they depict a human being inflicting pain and another learning to love it — but their great popularity suggests that, in some way, human beings may be designed to undergo precisely this kind of process. For that process to have ultimate meaning, one must look to the larger meaning in the universe.

In that light, the Book of Job, Salvifici Doloris, and Timothy Keller all converge on the same conclusion: the real meaning of human suffering is not punishment, not arbitrary cruelty, and not meaningless chance. It is, rather, an invitation — sometimes overwhelmingly difficult to accept — to deeper fidelity, humility, and love before God.

Notes

¹ Job 38:1–7 (Douay-Rheims).

² John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, Apostolic Letter on the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering, §11. Vatican website. http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1984/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_11021984_salvifici-doloris.html

³ Timothy Keller, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering (New York: Riverhead Books, 2015), 30.

⁴ Kim Gaines Eckert, "So Much More to Sex Than Fifty Shades," Christianity Today, August 2014, 3.

Bibliography

Eckert, Kim Gaines. "So Much More to Sex Than Fifty Shades." Christianity Today, August 2014.

John Paul II. Salvifici Doloris. 1984. http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1984/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_11021984_salvifici-doloris.html

Keller, Timothy. Walking With God Through Pain and Suffering. New York: Riverhead Books, 2015.