Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-250) and index.
Contents:
Index. Introduction -- 1. Appendix. Four texts on the problem of animal pain and suffering -- 2. Disability, suffering, and four theodicies -- 3. Non-human innocents : Theodicies for the problem of animal pain and suffering -- 4. Toward an Islamic evolutionary theodicy -- 5. Flames of love and wrath : Hell and the problem of everlasting punishment -- 6. Concluding remarks -- Appendix. Four texts on the problem of animal pain and suffering -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.
Summary:
"Like their Jewish and Christian co-religionists, Muslims have grappled with how God, who is perfectly good, compassionate, merciful, powerful, and wise permits intense and profuse evil and suffering in the world. At its core, Islamic Theology and the Problem of Evil explores four different problems of evil : human disability, animal suffering, evolutionary natural selection, and Hell. Each study argues in favor of a particular kind of explanation or justification (theodicy) for the respective evil. Safaruk Chowdhury unpacks the notion of evil and its conceptualization within the mainstream Sunni theological tradition, and the various ways in which theologians and philosophers within that tradition have advanced different types of theodicies. He not only builds on previous works on the topic, but also looks at kinds of theodicies previously unexplored within Islamic theology, such as an evolutionary theodicy. Distinguished by its application of an analytic-theology approach to the subject and drawing on insights from works of both medieval Muslim theologians and philosophers and contemporary philosophers of religion, this novel and highly systematic study will appeal to students and scholars, not only of theology but of philosophy as well. "-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.