Mazo Series: Theology For Dark Times

Theology For Dark Times: Jewish Theological Responses to Suffering and Theodicy

We are living in an era of immense, global suffering—not only from the pandemic which we’ve all faced, but also from ongoing war, terror, hunger, displacement and fear. We all watch our social media feeds and read the news, and we learn of bad things happening to innocent people every day. When these questions arise, we are often drawn back to that common question: “Why? Why is this happening? How could God allow for such pain?” This line of questioning is the expression of a particular Jewish theology, but it is not the only way to examine the question of pain’s existence from a Jewish theological or spiritual lens. In this 4 part course, we’ll examine the question of theodicy and seek our tradition’s responses to it—first Biblically, then Talmudically, and afterward two sessions examining responses in Modern Jewish Thought.

Register | $18