preview

The Depth Psychology Of Evil, And The Nature Of God

Decent Essays

Corbett’s parallel to his former religion continues in his chapter on the depth psychology of evil, and the nature of God. In this section, he moves into theodicy, “the attempt to justify God in the face of evil” (p.129). As Corbett explains, God-image within the Western monotheistic philosophy is one that is both all-good and all-powerful, but that the presence of evil in our world creates a paradox of these two natures. The tried arguments is that either God is all-powerful, but in allowing and/or creating evil means that he is not all-good, or that he is all-good, but inability to stop evil means that he is not all-powerful. This point creates a paradox of the Christian God, making him impossible in the mind of modern person. Nevertheless, in his true fashion, Corbett moves away from Christian ideology, but not away from the essence of it entirely. Instead, he proposes instead a different nature of God. That is, a God of dual-natures: abstract and concrete. In God’s abstract nature, he is “timeless and perfect, while in his concrete nature, he is not all-powerful, not changeless, and not all-knowing, and not the ultimate source in the universe (p.131). But, he is still loving. The implications therefore are that using force is outside of his loving nature, so God cannot stop evil, and that because god is within us all, he suffers with us. Corbett’s argument makes God compatible with actually sound belief in the nature of evil. Careful not to belittle the very real

Get Access