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Document Type
Video
Interview Date
1-17-2000
Abstract
How can a good God exist with all the evil in the world?
Rev. Walter Burghardt, S.J. discusses the relationship between God and evil. He says that God does not cause the evil, but does exist so that He could prevent the evil. Burghardt further remarks that without evil, we could not have free will, which is one of our most human characteristics. Although we cannot explain why evil exists, we must respond with good acts.
Recommended Citation
Burghardt, Walter S.J. and Benney, Alfred. Created by Alfred Benney. "Rev. Dr. Walter Burghardt, S.J. Engages with the Question: How Can a Good God Exist With All the Evil in the World?" January 2000. DigitalCommons@Fairfield. Web. https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/asrvideos/303
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Comments
Playing Time: 5:13
About the Interviewee:
The Rev. Dr. Walter Burghardt, S.J. received a Master’s degree and Licentiates in philosophy and sacred theology at Woodstock College near Baltimore and was ordained in 1941. He earned a doctorate in sacred theology from the Catholic University of America. Rev. Burghardt taught historical theology for 32 years at Woodstock College and was also a professor at Catholic University and a visiting lecturer at Union Theological in New York and Princeton Theological Seminary. From 1974 to 2003, he was a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University and in 1978, he was named the first theologian in residence at Georgetown. Rev. Burghardt wrote more than 300 articles and 25 books and was well known as one of the country’s best preachers. He died in 2008.
About the Interviewer:
Dr. Alfred Benney is a professor of Religious Studies at Fairfield University. He has a Ph.D in Theology from the Hartford Seminary Foundation and teaches courses in Non-Traditional American Religions and Christian Religious Thought. His research interests include "how people learn"; "the appropriate use of technology in teaching/learning" and "myth as explanatory narrative". He has published work on teaching with technology.