The problem of suffering : A Thomistic approach
Book chapter
Stump, Eleonore. (2018). The problem of suffering : A Thomistic approach. In In Trakakis, N. N. (Ed.). The problem of evil : Eight views in dialogue pp. 12-25 Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198821625.003.0002
Authors | Stump, Eleonore |
---|---|
Editors | Trakakis, N. N. |
Abstract | In this chapter, suffering is described as a function of what a person cares about, so that for a human being to suffer is for him or her to be kept from flourishing. But what we care about has a subjective side too—denoted as ‘the desires of the heart’. Thus, the ‘problem of suffering’ is the task of accounting for the fact that many people are kept from flourishing, or from having the desires of their heart, or both. With respect to flourishing, the chapter follows Aquinas in regarding suffering as “God’s medicine for human beings,” and this claim is supported by allusion to empirical studies on ‘adversarial growth’. But the more obstinate problem is why people fail to get the desires of their heart and are heartbroken as a result, and to answer this the chapter turns from Aquinas to the biographies of John Milton and Claiborne Park. |
Keywords | problem of evil; Thomas Aquinas; human flourishing; adversarial growth; John Milton; Clara Claiborne Park |
Page range | 12-25 |
Year | 2018 |
Book title | The problem of evil : Eight views in dialogue |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Place of publication | Oxford, United Kingdom |
ISBN | 9780191860904 |
9780198821625 | |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198821625.003.0002 |
Scopus EID | 2-s2.0-85059497194 |
Publisher's version | License All rights reserved File Access Level Controlled |
Output status | Published |
Publication dates | |
Online | 28 Jun 2018 |
2018 | |
Publication process dates | |
Deposited | 27 Jan 2023 |
https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/8yq29/the-problem-of-suffering-a-thomistic-approach
Restricted files
Publisher's version
69
total views0
total downloads1
views this month0
downloads this month