Saturday, April 20, 2019

Lonergan Reader: Chapter 16--The Problem of Evil

Lonergan states that knowledge is "transcendent ... inasmuch it goes beyond the domain of proportionate being" (309).

"General transcendent knowledge is the knowledge of God that answers the basic questions raised by proportionate being, namely, what being is and whether being is real" (309).

Lonergan states that still we have the problem of evil and people will argue from the fact of evil "to a denial of the intelligence or the power or the goodness of God" (309).

Lonergan states that both man's intelligence and his will has to be developed.

Lonergan asserts, "the pure desire of the mind is a desire of God, that the goodness of man's will consists in a consuming love of God, that the world of sense is ... a mystery that signifies God as we know him and symbolizes the further depths that lie beyond our comprehension" (314).

Bad will is actually a sin against God.

Humans are free. They would not sin if they were not free. "Because man determines himself, he is responsible; because the course of action determined upon and the process of determining are both contingent, man is free" (315).

Lonergan agrees there is a fact of evil. He also thinks there "can be a problem only if there is an intelligibility to be grasped" (316). There is a lack of intelligibility in sin. Sin comes from man's own act. There is a distinction between natural and moral evil. Lonergan asserts, "The point seems to remain that evil is, not a mere fact, but a problem, only if one attempts to reconcile it with the goodness of God; and if God is good then there is not only a problem of evil but also a solution" (317).

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