Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome, December 4 2024
For the ROR Seminar, Juan José Sanguineti, professor emeritus of the faculty of philosophy, held a lecture on the line of his recent publication in the journal Religions, entitled God in the Face of Natural and Moral Evils: a Thomistic Approach. The seminar was introduced and moderated by Prof. Ariberto Acerbi.
The theme of evil is for many the great obstacle in believing in God also for this reason is very present in the narrative fabric of the great religions of the world. The question of evil cannot be answered definitively: this is a presupposition which must be taken up first if one wishes to enter into such a field of investigation.
Evil as such can be thought of from a cosmological or anthropological perspective. In the first case, it can be said that natural evil exists in a structural way. The question underlying this type of approach is often about the end of the universe and how, in relation to it, it is possible to reconcile the existence of evil both from a teleological and theological perspective. A reasonable answer in this context could be given from an evolutionary reading of the interconnection between evil and cosmos. In the anthropological perspective, the question about evil becomes a “tragic” question.
It is an incontrovertible fact that the human being not only always tries to explain evil but fights it continuously and -if you can say so- constitutionally. One wonders why evil, why what no one wants exists, what everyone rejects. In general, if the evil finds an explanation, a meaning, it becomes acceptable. If it remains unintelligible, it leads to despair.
For these reasons the question about evil is transferred to God: why does he allow it? The authors of Anglo-Saxon area tend to answer that God knows how to transform evil into good but it is not irrelevant that the book of Job, in a pure attestation of humility of the creature towards the Creator, ends without offering an explanation. The fact that there is no solution and that evil remains an open problem in the perspective of the book does not throw into despair but instead communicates confidence and hope in the creator. It suggests, in fact, that not having the perspective of God we can only look at evil from below, that is, from the human perspective. We constantly ask for this: “Our Father … deliver us from evil!”. It is true that evil cannot win but we must “do something” to explore its meaning.
The evils are distinguished between physical evils and moral evils. In the Aristotelian-Thomist perspective, the physical evil arises from the loss of form. The same body’s vulnerability is a bad thing. Similarly, biological structures supporting living beings can be compromised in an anti-teleological sense. The living person in these cases cannot control the environment. Consider phenomena such as floods and disasters, in which material causality becomes harmful. The evil affects the individual painfully but not necessarily on the species. Evolutionism has taught us that often from disasters there have been significant evolutionary improvements: contingence is at the service of evolution. In this sense, physical ailments can be considered “functional”.
In addition to physical ills there is physical pain. Many wonder what sense has pain in animals. In itself pain is a sentinel for the body, it is functional to avoid further damage. The same cannot be said of chronic physical pain, to this pain it is much more difficult to find a meaning. In the context of the question on evil, we also ask what sense do aggressions have in nature (between species and in man): in the physical world there are difficulties, obstacles against which the living must defend themselves. Compared to this kind of evil, the Christian philosophy does not make a connection with original sin. It cannot be said that they happen because of a nature corrupted by original sin, even if it is more than reasonable to think that in the final eschatological universe violence and pain, even in animals, will no longer exist.
The moral evil in the Christian view is, instead, connected to original sin.
After sin, man is left at the mercy of natural and animal forces, and experiences the unhealable dichotomy of the desire for good, which coexists with an inner disorder. In particular, there exists in the human heart, explains Sanguineti, an opposition between the desire for justice and low instincts.
Nevertheless, man continues to fight against evil. And we ask ourselves: what does God do in the face of these terrible evils? What is his plan? God works with man through providence to lead him to good. Providence affects second causes. This is how God in his provident goodness helps us to overcome a disease. Miracles are what we call extraordinary providence. God’s providence does not eliminate the damage that comes from sin, it does not exempt us from physical laws, nor of course from fighting against injustices. Divine providence is then hidden, mysterious, requires in man trust: God in fact leaves to man an integral freedom, does not force him to avoid evil.
As for the discussion around a possible catastrophic end of the cosmos, even if there are no real answers is good not to absolutize history, man, and his plans, otherwise it will fall into an idolatrous illusion. In the plan of God who provides there is also redemption. Jesus Christ saved us by embracing pain, transforming injustice into love, in union with Jesus crucified every evil acquires a meaning, even the suffering of the innocent. For this the struggle in Christ and with Christ has a meaning, but it must be remembered that fighting evil is a process. Man can do it, with the help of grace, through education, law, technology. It will not always be possible to succeed but in the end, since only the final consummation is missing, it is important to know that the victory is already in place.
