Exploring Theological Paradoxes

223 Pages·2022·4.838 MB·English

by  Cyril Orji

Exploring Theological Paradoxes
This book focuses on the question of theological paradox, exploring what it
means, andits place in theological method from aChristian perspective. Just as
paradoxes are unavoidable in logic and mathematics, paradoxes are inevitable
in religious and theological discourses. The chapters in this volume examine a
numberofcases, including the ‘RedHeiferparadox’,the ‘liarparadox’,andthe
‘paradox of omnipotence’, and attention is given to Christian doctrines such as
the Trinity and the Incarnation. Arguing for a renewed understanding and
appreciation of the role of paradox, this study will be of interest to scholars of
theology and the philosophy of religion.
Cyril Orji is a systematic theologian and Professor in the Department of Reli-
gious Studies at the University of Dayton, USA.
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Jan-Olav Henriksen and Pål Repstad
Religion and Intersex
Perspectives from Science, Law, Culture, and Theology
Stephanie A. Budwey
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Exploring Theological Paradoxes
Routledge
Cyril Orji
Firstpublished2023
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and a preacher

Contents
List of tables viii
Preface ix
Acknowledgment xii
Introduction 1
1 The Intrigue of Paradox 8
2 Religion and Self-Referential Paradox 41
3 Classical Judaism and the Paradox of the Red Heifer 68
4 Christianity and the Liar Paradox 91
5 Christology and the Paradox of Omnipotence 119
6 The Incarnation and the Logical Principle of Non-Contradiction 140
7 The Religion-Buridan Dilemma, Dialogue, and the Search for A
Metalanguage of Discourse 168
Index 202
Tables
1.1 Zeno’s Paradox 17
1.2 Comparing Moore and Paul’s Paradox 29
3.1 Textual Comparison 77
3.2 The Red Heifer Ritual 81
4.1 Kafka on Parables and Paradoxes 100
4.2 Jesus’s Parable of the Ten Virgins 100
5.1 Cluster of Christological Titles of Jesus 122
5.2 Christopher Smart 125
5.3 Gerald Manley Hopkins 125
5.4 Gerald Manley Hopkins 126
5.5 Sir John Betjeman 126
5.6 Anonymous Poem 128
5.7 Thomas Aquinas’ Hymn, Adoro Te Devote 128
7.1 Rumi’s Paradoxes 173
7.2 A Comparison of Daoist-Classical Indian Texts 178
7.3 A Comparison of Laozi and Zhuangzi 180
Preface
In 2020 the world was rocked by the Covid-19 (coronavirus) epidemic that led
to lockdowns in nearly every country and disrupted normal life as we know it.
Worldwide, businesses came to a standstill. To halt educational paralysis,
schools turned to remote learning. Government offices were shut down, except
for those who became adaptable by going virtual. In the United States, as in
many countries with high-powered financial markets, Wall Street struggled to
remain open. The stock market struggled and the global financial market was
on the brink of meltdown. People stayed at home for weeks on end not know-
ing where the pandemic was going and when it was going to end. We were
made to understand that the lockdown that was put in place was largely to
avoid straining an already stretched health care system. Only people in the
healthcare sector and those the local government determined to be “essential
workers” were allowed to go to work unhindered. Suddenly, the fragilityof life
became part of our collective consciousness. While religious people hung on to
their faithfor succor, people withnoreligionhung onto whatever pull ordrive
they saw fit to sustain them.
This book emerged out of my reflections on the contradictions of life that
were brought to light by the Covid-19 state of affairs. The pandemic exposed
both the fragility and the absurdities of life. Ordinary necessities of life that
were previously taken for granted suddenly began to be valued. Grocery work-
ers and garbage collectors whose valuable services to the community have
always gone unappreciated were classified as “essential workers” for the first
time,atleastinmylifetime.Thelockdownandlife-restrictionssuddenlybegan
to make people appreciate things they had hitherto taken for granted. Even if
temporarily, social attitudes changed for better in many places. In the United
States, it forced a few good legislations on social and political matters because
ofthedeathofGeorgeFloydthathappenedatthesametime,anunarmedblack
man that was killed in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in May 2020.
As I reflected on these issues, I began to appreciate even more the tensions, the
pulls, the contrarieties, and the paradoxical in life. I saw analogues of the ten-
sions, pulls, contrarieties, and ordinary-life paradox generating-attitudes in the
paradox-generating doctrines of organized religion and theology. It was these
reflections that birthed Exploring Theological Paradoxes.