Out of Eden: Adam and Eve and the Problem of Evil by Paul W. Kahn PDF

By Paul W. Kahn

ISBN-10: 0691126933

ISBN-13: 9780691126937

In Out of Eden, Paul W. Kahn deals a philosophical meditation at the challenge of evil. He makes use of the Genesis tale of the autumn because the start line for a profound articulation of the human . Kahn indicates us that evil expresses the trend of an issue who is aware either that he's a picture of an enormous God and that he needs to die. Kahn's interpretation of Genesis leads him to inquiries right into a number of sleek kinds of evil, together with slavery, torture, and genocide. Kahn takes factor with Hannah Arendt's conception of the banality of evil, arguing that her view is an example of the fashionable world's misplaced capability to talk of evil. mental, social, and political debts don't clarify evil up to clarify it away. concentrating on the existential roots of evil instead of at the events for its visual appeal, Kahn argues that evil originates in man's flight from loss of life. He urges us to determine that the other of evil isn't solid, yet love: whereas evil may grasp dying, love may go beyond it. supplying a different point of view that mixes political and cultural conception, legislations, and philosophy, Kahn the following maintains his undertaking of advancing a political theology of modernity.

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Extra resources for Out of Eden: Adam and Eve and the Problem of Evil

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After the Fall, all have the potential for evil; there is nothing special about Cain. It could have been Abel who killed Cain. Evil is not the condition in which we find ourselves but a form of response to that 3 For a recent reflection on this double quality—hated and loved—of the founder, see I. Buruma, “The Indiscreet Charm of Tyranny,” New York Review of Books, vol. 52, no. 8 (May 12, 2005). 20 ■ C HA PT ER ON E condition. For that reason, evil is deeply intertwined with that which is creative or constructive in our nature.

In fact, every effort to assign responsibility is left indeterminate in the play, for evil is not at issue. What is so terrifying here is the showing forth of a divine order that sets aside as mere empty appearance the objects of human understanding. The horror of Oedipus is mixed with the sacred from the very beginning. Prophesies and omens are needed to clarify exactly who Oedipus is. Oedipus shares that double quality of the divine as simultaneously sacred and polluted. In the presence of the polluted, we are very close—perhaps too close—to the sacred.

For both, the divine sanction also has a sacred power: the power to found and protect a city. Oedipus and Cain always draw the attention of the gods—for good and bad. This structural homology of Oedipus and Cain suggests that evil steps into the category of the polluted. Just as the polluted is simultaneously terrifying and sanctifying, so is evil. There is a danger of getting too close but also a danger of losing contact entirely. The double character of Oedipus—polluted and sacred—is replaced by a new double in the Judeo-Christian word—evil and love.

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Out of Eden: Adam and Eve and the Problem of Evil by Paul W. Kahn


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