Suffering & Meaning
CLASS SESSION INFO
Dates: March 8th, 15th, and 22nd, 2021
Times: Mondays, 8:00 PM Eastern / 7:00 PM Central / 5:00 PM Pacific
Instructor: Bob Mesle
Pain hurts more when it feels meaningless, so we are powerfully motivated to find some meaning in our suffering. Unfortunately, people often do this in ways which seem to imply that nothing bad really happens. In this class, we will explore ways in which people with good intentions offer comforts which can lead to an unhealthy denial of life’s problems. Drawing on the resources of process relational thinkers like H.N. Wieman, Daniel Day Williams, and Marjorie Suchocki we will work to develop healthier approaches to our shared suffering.
Course Overview
Session 1: Thinking Through the Problem
Pain hurts more when it feels meaningless. I worry that this often leads people to deny that anything is really bad, that everything is really for the best. Such comforts undermine our acknowledgement of the realities of injustice, cruelty, and wasted suffering. Our goal for the first session one is to think through this problem and consider a better path.
Session 2: Responding Creatively
WHAT ARE THE CONDITIONS NECESSARY FOR US TO RESPOND CREATIVELY TO SUFFERING? Process theologians Henry Nelson Wieman and Daniel Day Williams are among those who ask the right question about suffering. Given that suffering is often wasted or destructive, but sometimes suffering is creative of good, Wieman and Williams ask WHAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE? We will spend the second session examining proposals by D. D. Williams for the conditions which are needed to respond creatively to suffering.
Session 3: The Process View of God
I am flexible as to how to spend our final session. I would be happy for the members of the class to bring their own thoughts on better and worse forms of comfort they have experienced. But it has been suggested that we spend this evening discussing the important contributions of the PROCESS-RELATIONAL VISION OF GOD. We can decide on this together.
Course Materials
Supplementary Resources
- Discussion Forum: Please note that you must be logged in to access the forum.
