Corinne oder Die praktische Theodizee des Unfassbaren

Abstract

Based on Max Frisch's story Man in the Holocene (1979) and experiences in emergency pastoral care, arguments of a practical theodicy are developed: It is based on the idea that the world is only bearable in a network of interpersonal relationships, especially in the case of catastrophes. In addition, there is humans' decisive relationship with God, the Creator of finite reality, which is mediated through human beings. It is this divine-human network of relationships that determines how the world appears, may it be the best of all possible worlds or not. Practical engagement in the catastrophe helps hardships of finite reality to survive and removes it from the suspicion of being absurd and delegitimizing its transcendent