Theodicy of Protest: Analysis and Criticism

The problem of evil is one of the most important issues in the philosophy of religion and theology. According to the evidential problem of evil, the evidence for the existence of God is minimal due to the prevalence of evil in the world. Theodicy is a response to this problem, emphasizing the reasons for evil in the world. After the holocaust, certain Jewish and Christian theologians have doubted the possibility and validity of theodicies, thus producing anti-theodicies. In his essay “The Theodicy of Protest”, John Roth, presented a theodicy which was very similar to anti-theodicies. Inspired by the biblical story of Job, he suggested that humans should protest to God, as Job did, so that God responds to them and lessens their suffering. In this research, I first introduce the theodicy of protest and mention its differences with anti-theodicies. Then, I analyze the notions of protest and theodicy in this particular kind of theodicy. Afterwards, the theological implications of the theodicy of protest (in terms of God’s attributes and human-God relation) are enumerated. The theodicy of protest has several advantages: it undertakes an average, rather than a maximalist approach; it also has a pragmatic, rather than a theoretical approach; it provides a response to the emotional problem of evil; and it pays attention to historical events. However, this theodicy has faced several criticisms: the contradiction between divine love and divine power, the contrast between human freedom and divine interference, the lack of generality in the theodicy of protest and its dependence on psychic inclinations, its opposition to divine beneficence as a key factor in religion, and the denial of hope in God.