Evil

Kenneth Cauthen

This page provides an abstract of my book The Many Faces of Evil: Reflections on the Sinful, the Tragic, the Demonic and the Ambiguous (Lima, OH: CSS Publishing Co., 1997). The book analyzes in detail the concepts introduced in the abstract and is replete with illustrations from daily life, newspapers, history books, and my own personal experience. For information contact CSS Publishing Co. at their E-Mail Address. Or see the CSS Web Page.

Evil is the disruption or destruction of a potential for enjoyment in sentient beings, especially animals and humans. Hence, evil is not primordial but emergent. Given the nature of finitude and the complexity of organization that enjoyment in organisms requires, evil can and will most probably occur. Sentient beings are vulnerable to destruction because of internal failure and external conflict.

Evil has many faces. 1. The sinful refers to a wrongful use of freedom that (1) distorts relationships with God and others and (2) has harmful consequences. Its social expression is injustice. 2. The tragic characterizes suffering to the extent that it is unavoidable and/or irredeemable. 3. The demonic is the destructive power of the past embodied presently in personality formation and social structures. 4. The ambiguous indicates the mixture of good and evil in events and choices.

God does not directly and immediately causes evil to occur. God works in and through human freedom and through the law-abiding processes of nature to achieve the optimum good possible. I do not believe in supernatural occurrences, but we should be cautious about drawing the boundaries of the natural that demarcate the possible from the impossible.

I affirm a finite, suffering, struggling God. There are limits to what God can accomplish on earth. The only God I can believe in is a God with a broken heart, a God who weeps, who is our companion and support. God is the Fellow-Sufferer who shares our grief, who feels the pain of our sorrows.

I invite comments, questions, and refutations.

Please remove * in my e-mail address before sending. The * was added to thwart spammers. Thank you. My E-Mail Address

This essay is one of a series of essays on theological and ethical topics. A complete list of topics can be found on my Home Page: Theological Essays

For essays that say more about evil, see God,

Theodicy: the Problem of Evil,
Theodicy: A Heterodox Alternative Presently, the following essays are available: About the Author
A List of my Books
What I Believe
Interpreting the Bible Today
The Authority of the Bible
Using the Bible with Integrity
Natural Law and Moral Relativism
What is Truth -- and Does it Matter?
A Doctrine of God
Hints Toward a Doctrine of God
Trinity: God, Christ, Spirit
God as Masculine and Feminine
Theodicy: the Problem of Evil
Theodicy: A Heterodox Alternative
The Many Faces of Evil
Christ and Christians
A Critique of Niebuhr's Christ and Culture
The Incompatibility of Christianity and Civilization
Christian Ethics
Process Christian Ethics
The Ethics of Belief
Relativism, Morality, Belief
Capital Punishment
Physician Assisted Suicide
Bioethical Decision-Making
Prostitution
Abortion
Drug Policy
Homosexuality
Theology and Ecology
Religion and Politics
Science and Theology
Church and State
A Short Biographical Sketch

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Created: Friday, March 14, 1997, 12:03 PM
Last Update: Monday, June 18, 2001, 3:05 PM