REL 210 - Religion, Evil and Suffering

Course Units: 1

It’s easy to identify acts of evil and experiences of suffering, both currently and historically, that seem senseless and meaningless. So why do evil and suffering exist in the world? Since religions claim to make sense of human existence and how the world works, do evil and suffering constitute an insurmountable problem for them? Are evil and suffering more of a challenge to some religious traditions than to others? This course critically examines responses to the problem of evil and suffering that are offered by various religious traditions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism), how their distinctive answers arise from key concepts within each religion, and how answers have changed over time in response to intellectual and moral developments. The course also addresses recent critical appraisals of religion around the questions: Is religion itself a source of evil and suffering? And, can science offer better explanations for suffering and evil via the theory of evolution, the ‘selfish gene’, or sociobiology? Readings engage historical, philosophical, psychological and biological perspectives, as well as primary texts from the religious traditions. CC: HUM