Constructing meaning in the face of suffering: Theodicy in lamentations

Authors

Elizabeth Boase, University of Notre Dame AustraliaFollow

Publication Details

Boase, E. (2008). Constructing meaning in the face of suffering: Theodicy in lamentations. Vetus Testamentum, 58 (4-5), 449-468.
https://doi.org/10.1163/156853308X325029

Abstract

This article explores the existence of theodic elements within the book of Lamentations. Drawing on the typology outlined by A. Laato and J. C. de Moor (Th eodicy in the World of the Bible [Leiden, 2003]) it is identified that Lamentations explores both retributive and educative theodicy within its poems. Other theodic solutions are not, however, present. Although these theodic solutions are present, it cannot be argued that Lamentations constitutes a theodicy as such. Rather, the poems raise and in turn subvert a range of possible theodic assertions in response to the existential crisis which emerged in the wake of the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BCE.

Keywords

Peer-reviewed, Lamentations, types of theodicy, question of theodicy, laments, poetry, Bible