Michael Potts's Blog: Bits and Pieces: Book Reviews and Articles on Writing, Horror Fiction, and Some Philosophy - Posts Tagged "the-fall"

Cosmology, Evolution, and Resurrection Hope: Theology and Science in Creative Mutual Interaction: Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Goshen Conference on by Robert John Russell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is a splendid book concerning an eschatological answer to the problem of suffering in light of modern science. Professor Russell is on the mark when he says that conventional "solutions" to the problem of evil break down in the midst of intractable pain or the suffering and early deaths of children, as well as in instances of great human evil such as the Holocaust. He offers the cross as a means to show Christ's suffering love in the midst of human suffering and a transformed world in which everything will be made new as the only viable way to deal with the issue of both human and nonhuman animal suffering. In this approach he is similar to Eastern Orthodox approaches to evil and suffering (cf. The Brothers Karamazov). Russell is open not only to the possibility of universal human resurrection, but to the resurrection of individual higher animals (and perhaps other animals as well). Russell brings in important insights from quantum theory, chaos theory, and evolutionary biology to deal with doctrines such as creation ex nihilo, the Fall, the resurrection of Christ, and the universal resurrection of all human beings. I recommend this book to all theology students as well as those interested in the philosophy of religion and issues in science and religion.



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