![]() However strange it may seem to begin this essay on a mystic with a quote from Reinhold Niebuhr, who was no admirer of mysticism, it helps to highlight one of the great strengths of what I shall argue is Julian of Norwich's doctrine of revelation. Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality 5.1 (2005) 54-78 In these ways, both styles of theodicy use rational resources towards the goal of explanation, while reminding their adherents that the faltering intelligibility that they seek is to be seen as an integral component of their active participation in a sense of theological mystery that enfolds, and yet transcends, their finite existences. Christian mystics too seek not so much to explain suffering as to identify suffering with the agony of Christ on the cross, and they envision such suffering as part of a unitive journey where their love of Christ is purified. A karma theodicy operates with the notion that there is some form of proportionality between past evil and present suffering, even if such correlations can only be traced by an enlightened sage or are known to the omniscient God. In a comparative study of karma theodicy and atonement theodicy, as developed by some Hindu and Christian theologians, this article argues that they present teleological visions where individuals become purged, purified, and perfected in and through their worldly suffering. ![]()
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