The problem of evil, the difficulty of reconciling the reality of evil with an omnipotent and good God, is one of the central problems in Abrahamic theology. The central liturgical practice of traditional Judaism is the recitation of the Amidah, a prayer that (on weekdays) consists in a series of benedictions requesting God to eliminate the evils of the world. Drawing on resources from the primary sources of Judaism (i.e., the Hebrew Bible and classical rabbinic literature) and major philosophers from the Jewish philosophical canon (Moses Maimonides, Hermann Cohen, and Franz Rosenzweig), I argue that the performance of the Amidah constitutes a response to the problem of evil that both encodes an affirmation of its reality and protests against it. By refusing to reconcile with evil but instead protesting against it, the Amidah falls into the category of anti-theodicy.

Creator

• Ricciardi, Benjamin Cleveland

DOI

• https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-x02z-jt51

Subject

• Judaic studies
• Philosophy of Religion
• Theology

Language

• en

Alternate Identifier

• etdadmin_upload_661202
• http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:14601

Keyword

• Jewish ethics
• theodicy
• Jewish philosophy
• prayer
• anti-theodicy
• problem of evil

Date created

• 2019-01-01

Resource type

• Dissertation

Rights statement

• In Copyright