Study of the vexing problem of evil; the seeming contradiction between tradition and experience; extensive readings and discussions of appropriate biblical and post-biblical literature. In English.
Prereq: Not open to students with credit for 671.

This is an exploration of the most vexing of all biblical and post-biblical questions: how can a just and infallible God allow evil in His world and how does one account for the seeming contradiction between tradition and experience? Relevant passages from the Bible (Job and Koheleth in particular) and selections from apocryphal and rabbinic literature will be studied, along with comparable texts from ancient Near Eastern literatures and additional readings in contemporary secondary literature. Graduate students and undergraduate Hebrew majors will be required to read the texts in the original Hebrew.