Kantzer Lectures: Henri Blocher

God, Evil, and Possibility

The problem of evil—why is there evil in a world proceeded from Absolute Goodness and ruled by Sovereign Benevolence?—has been the perennial torment of the human mind. Many thinkers have designed “solutions” (theodicies) in which the notion of the possible plays a key role. While common sense readily admits that evil must have been originally “possible” if it arose it the midst of creation, the simplicity of such reasoning is not without its problems. The notion of “possible” is fraught with ambiguities and may be misleading when used uncritically. Concentrating on the “possibility of evil “in the beginning,” and briefly considering the “possibility” of redemption, these lectures in revealed theology will demarcate what deserves to be labelled “evil” and to determine how one should conceive of “possibility.”

Lecture 1: Introduction: Evil possible—a misleading facility

Tuesday, September 15 | ATO Chapel 7pm

Dessert reception (Hinkson Hall) immediately following

Lecture 2: Exploring the quasi concept and the area of evil

Wednesday, Sept 16 | Hinkson Hall, 4:00-5:30pm

Lecture 3: Thinkers on “possibility”

Thursday, Sept 17 | Hinkson Hall, 2:00-3:30pm

Lecture 4: “Possibility” in biblical perspective

Thursday, Sept 17 | Hinkson Hall, 4:00-5:30pm

Lecture 5: Was evil “possible” before it arose?

Monday, Sept 21 | Hinkson Hall, 2:00-3:30pm

Lecture 6: Possibility and Salvation

Monday, Sept 21 | Hinkson Hall, 4:00-5:30pm

 All lectures are free and open to the public.
Follow online at stream.tiu.edu.

Biography

Henri A. G. Blocher is Professor of Systematic Theology, Faculte Libre de Theologie Evangelique, Vaux-sur-Seine, France. Blocher earned a B.D. degree from Gordon Divinity School (1959), a Diplôme d’Etudes Supérieures de Théologie (old doctoral regime), from Faculté Libre de Théologie Protestante of Paris (1974), and D.D. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (1989). He has taught in Africa, Australia, Canada, Europe and the United States. Blocher was involved with the Lausanne Committee on World Evangelisation from 1975 to 1980 and is connected to a