The Necessity of Imperfection: Grappling with Evil and Suffering in the World’s Religions

One of the most difficult problems that every religion grapples with is how to explain the existence of evil and suffering in the world. Our lives are plagued by unhappiness, stress, difficulties, and always end in death. For religions with an all-powerful and loving God, this reality presents a serious challenge. Why won’t this loving and powerful God just fix us and our world? The Eastern traditions, with their views of karma and reincarnation, present a very different view of this classic struggle. Whether Eastern or Western, all religions recognize that our lives are not perfect, but then each presents different paths and prescriptions about what to do with these imperfections. This class explores how these different faiths struggle with our imperfections while also presenting unique ways of understanding why the difficulties in our lives are a necessary part of being itself.