Origin: On Darkness will explore the themes of suffering and evil. The very existence of these things calls into question the nature and reality of God. Does evil discount the idea of God as omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and perfectly good? Given the existence of evil, both moral (i.e., evil willfully caused by human beings: murder, adultery, rape, etc.) and natural (i.e., harm caused by impersonal forces of nature: earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, plague/disease, etc.) how can God, who is perfectly powerful and good, allow for the existence of evil? Furthermore, since evil exists and occurs regularly, how can God, powerful and good, exist in the way Holy Scripture reveals?
These questions are not new ones; they have plagued the human heart and mind as long as time itself. In this series, we will explore the problem of evil through the lens of the church father, St. Augustine of Hippo. In his thinking, evil was not substantial but a defect in being, or rather, a deficiency of good. For St. Augustine, God–who is a supreme power and is supremely good–could not allow anything evil to exist amongst his creation if he were not able to bring good even out of evil. So then, the question of evil and suffering calls us to contemplate the omnipotent and only-good God and what this means in our lives and experienced circumstances.
As in previous years, the series will explore the issue through two live events, a series-opening lecture and a closing session, along with a series companion reader. The series companion reader will consist of four sessions that will contain primary theological text along with poetry, visual art, Scripture, reflection, and practice.
For the opening of this year's ORIGIN series, Art House Dallas welcomed author and scholar Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson for an evening conversation. You can watch the opening session below. The closing session will be August 21st.
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