REV. DR. EUGEN J. PENTIUC
Still, there are biblical writers who are not satisfied with such a quick fix to man’s cry of inquiry regarding suffering and evil. For instance, the author of Job 40-41 suggests that God Himself created these monstrous creatures that are to be blamed for all sufferings because He wanted to be challenged so that His power might be eventually made manifest. This is God’s puzzling answer to the lengthy complaints of a suffering Job who struggles to solve the fundamental question: “Why do the just suffer and the unjust prosper?” God’s answer underscores the cruel reality of evil in this world, responsible for both social and personal trials. Nevertheless, God who allowed Himself to be challenged by the two monsters (Behemoth and Leviathan) is more powerful than them.
Here precisely we begin to plumb the “untamable” depths. We learn that, unlike some conclusions that might be drawn from certain doctrinal developments in both Judaism and Christianity, Scripture testifies to a continuous and dramatic situation where God’s mastery is not a simple and happy-ended show but rather a dynamic process. One can discern the final victory, but only through a complicated thicket of daily troubles, in which we hope always in the final victory as a reliable companion. Jon D. Levenson argues that the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) is not about God’s “omnipotence as a static attribute” but rather about “omnipotence as a dramatic enactment: the absolute power of God realizing itself in achievement and relationship.”3 Emphasizing the static omnipotence translates in a downplaying of creation’s “vulnerability to chaos.” In contrast, in the very realization that creation is in jeopardy, the believer can find a serious and genuine pastoral resource. As Walter Brueggemann remarks, such a recognition “is not, moreover, a diminishment of Yahweh. To the contrary, it is an assertion of how urgently indispensable Yahweh is to a viable life in the world.”4
Finally, another biblical author (Psalm 1 04:26) looks at Leviathan as to a mere toy that God created to sport with. Here, creatio ex nihilo turns the source of evil and suffering into a caricature whose raison detre is to entertain its Maker. But alas, with what great cost!
Now one question may still bother some readers of this beautiful, rich and untamable textbook that is the Bible: “Why do we need the handouts if they are reductionist in nature?” That is, why do we need the doctrinal encapsulations of Holy Tradition? We need them because they are simple, quick guides for busy travelers in a world filled with temptations, sorrows and fleeting joys. The Church reminds us through these hand-outs about God’s presence in this world and his final victory over what is wrong and unjust.
A similar question may be raised by those faithful to the Holy Tradition: “Why do we need a Scripture when everything important for salvation might be condensed in Tradition?” The answer to this pertinent question lies with the complexity and changeability of human life, in terms of challenges, priorities or trials. Only such an untamable and multifaceted textbook is able to alleviate the unanswered “Why?” nailed on the cross on a Friday afternoon as a perennial testimony of human frailty and divine power.
3. Creation and the Persistence of Evil: The Jewish Drama of Divine Omnipotence (Princeton University Press, 1994), xvi, xxix.
4. Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute, Advocacy ( Fortress Press, 1997), 537.
Rev. Dr. Eugen J. Pentiuc is Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. He is a Senior Fulbright Scholar and Lilly Faculty Fellow. He has published several books and numerous articles in the areas of biblical studies and Near Eastern languages and civilizations. Fr. Pentiuc has just completed his latest book, The Old Testament in Eastern Orthodox Tradition, to be published by Oxford University Press.
~Praxis, “Theology Matters,” Vol. 12, Issue 1, Fall 2012
