Abstract What role should theodicy play in the face of loss and acute suffering? Should it keep its distance and remain respectfully silent or should it step forward to illuminate the opaque reality of evil, especially untimely death? In my article, I explore the fraught relationship between the personal experience of loss and its theological interpretation through an analysis of three related bereavement autobiographies: C. S. Lewis’s A Grief Observed, Nicholas Wolterstorff’s Lament for a Son, and William Abraham’s Among the Ashes. Invoking Job’s “friends” as a theoretical framework, I analyze each author’s attempt to reconcile the lived experience of suffering with the theoretical task of theodicy: to explain suffering. I conclude with my own constructive proposal on the place of theodicy in the realm of human anguish.

中文翻译：

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成为朋友：灰烬中的神学

摘要面对失落和严重的痛苦，神学理论应该扮演什么样的角色？它应该保持距离并保持尊敬地保持沉默，还是应该向前迈进以阐明不透明的邪恶现实，尤其是过早的死亡？在我的文章中，我将通过分析三个相关的丧亲自传来探讨个人损失经历与神学解释之间的烦恼关系：CS刘易斯的《悲痛的旁观者》，尼古拉斯·沃尔特斯托夫的《为儿子哀叹》和威廉·亚伯拉罕的《灰烬之中》。我以乔布斯的“朋友”为理论框架，分析了每位作者调和痛苦经历与神学理论任务的尝试：解释痛苦。最后，我以自己的建设性建议来论证神父论在人类痛苦领域中的地位。