“How long, o lord?” – The question of time in theodicy

Abstract

AbstractIn this paper, the question of theodicy is viewed from the perspective of time. It is argued that even a very shallow analysis reveals that the concept of “long time” is deeply anthropocentric. We do not know what time is to God, but it seems that the only reason why we call billions of years a long period is because we use ourselves as measuring rods. What if the time questions we ask in this context say more about our temporal smallness than about reality itself? Three possible objections are answered: 1) It is acknowledged that this is of course not meant to be a definite answer to the problem of evil. It is merely offered as a reframing that seems strangely absent from the discussion. 2) The question of pastoral relevance is briefly discussed. 3) The troubling problem of why God created sequentially over time and not “instantaneously” is explored. It is concluded that perhaps our appraisal of time might not be ontologically valid at all. This does not make suffering easy to bear, but perhaps thoughts like these can provide a little hope and endurance—at least for those of us who are philosophically and theologically inclined.

Keywords

• anthropocentrism
• duration
• problem of evil
• theodicy
• time