Animal Suffering, God and Lessons from the Book of Job

Abstract

Nature shows itself to us in ambivalent ways. Breathtaking beauty and cruelty lie close together. A Darwinian image of nature seems to imply that nature is a mere place of violence, cruelty and mercilessness. In this article, I first explore the question of whether such an interpretation of nature is not one-sided by being phrased in overly moral terms. Then, I outline how the problem of animal suffering relates to a specific understanding of God as moral agent. Finally, in the main part of the argumentation, I pursue the question to what extent the problem of animal (and human) suffering does not arise for a concept of God couched in less personalistic terms. If God’s perspective towards creation is rather de-anthropocentric, then moral concerns might be of less importance as we generally assume. Such an understanding of the divine is by no means alien to the biblical-theistic tradition. I argue that it finds strong echoes in the divine speeches in the Book of Job: They aim at teaching us to accept both the beauty and the tragic of existence in a creation that seen in its entirety is rather a-moral. Finally, I address the question what such a concept of God could mean for our existence.

Reply to Cordeiro-Rodrigues (2022). Tutuism and the Moral Universe. Comment on “Gasser (2021). Animal Suffering, God and Lessons from the Book of Job. Religions 12: 1047”

“…In a recent paper (Gasser 2021), I argue that this understanding of God is couched in overly personalistic terms. God is imagined similar to a human person and judged accordingly with the moral standards appropriate for human agents.…”

“…Critical objections are a welcome means of removing ambiguities or clarifying implicit assumptions. For this reason, I am very grateful that Luis Cordeiro-Rodrigues has written a reply to my paper "Animal Suffering, God and Lessons from the Book of Job" (Gasser 2021). This gives me the opportunity to rethink this topic again and try to present it in a more precise manner.…”