2750-3000 Words- Instructions: Write an argumentative paper on the topic of your choosing, which nonetheless must be related to the central topic of the course. Topic: The Problem of Racism

Dr. Sauder

Theologies of Lament in Light of the Pandemic

“The Religion of Slaves,” - Soelle pp. 151-178

· Weil was somewhere between a Christian and non-Christian, she wasn’t baptized because that would have “betrayed her truth, precisely at the threshold” (152). The threshold is the in between.

· Weil was educated and quit her job to work in a factory to experience the physical suffering that others did. She wished to aid the French during the resistance in the 40s but wasn’t allowed to and therefore chose to suffer by their side.

· “The soul has to g on loving in the emptiness, or at least to go on wanting to love, though it may only be an infinitesimal part of itself. Then, one day, God will come to show himself to this soul” (156) -- We must suffer but continue to love, because it shows strength and virtue.

· The cross (death is unavoidable and we accept it) and the resurrection (the soul does not cease to love “in the void”) are the two elements to faith that aren't fake.

· “The capacity not to stop loving depends on faith in God” (157) -- The more faith we have the more love we share?

· “Christianity exists for slaves” (159) -- The suffering experienced by slaves is expressed through religion. Nietzche explains the “pity” at the heart of all this.

· Paradox: the symbol for religion of slaves is the cross (where many suffered and died)

· Someone can suffer WITH you but never FOR you, no one can take over your pain that you suffer for God.

· Apathy in theology: “The number of those who dare to understand suffering at society’s hands, as well as their own suffering as a productive force is too small; the attempt to avoid suffering is too great” (168)

· The author brings up important questions: can we increase the number of people who aren't afraid to suffer, and can we not run from suffering anymore?

· Soelle suggest that we stop ceasing to love trying to avoid suffering and trying to avoid the cross. And instead love the life you lead and let suffering in, a life without love would be miserable.

· “There is no alien sorrow” -- we all suffer together despite the feeling of loneliness (171)

· The story of Ivan and Alyosha... Ivan rebels against God because he cannot comprehend why so many innocent people suffer. Alyosha is suffering in silence which means God is within Alyosha. -- “Alyosha does not try to be conformed to the image of God, which also means demanding a total solution for the world” (176)

· “There is a time for weeping and a time for laughing. To need consolation and to console are human, just as human as Christ was.” (178) -- Soelle concludes with the idea that suffering is normal, and we shouldn’t fear it. There is no stopping it even though we try, we must conquer it by suffering together.

DeLorenzo, “Dear Students: There is no Afterwards”

· “There are places in the heart that do not yet exist, and into them enters suffering, that they might exist.” - Leon Bloy

· Life in the pandemic is not life as expected, distancing and remote life has interrupted our normal.

· Death rates are higher than ever seen, job loss is inevitable, the social distancing has led to tremendous loneliness and that was only the beginning.

· There is a lesson to be learned from this: “The lesson is that life, in the end, is about loss, and suffering itself is the teacher.”

· The suffering so far endured has caused normal itself to change. Loss experienced by some like those who suffered 9/11 was not temporary but a lesson absorbed through suffering.

· No one is immune to the losses of the pandemic, normal has undergone a change. Thanks to the pandemic the inevitable lesson has come sooner for some than expected and that is that “life is about loss”. The illusion of youth and things getting better has been interrupted.

· “We lose the luxury of being carefree. We lose free time. We lose indeterminate agency, innumerable possibilities, and indefinite horizons.”

· “What all the many sufferings of adult life show us is that this idea is actually the high and unbending rule, and it governs our bodies and our relationships and everything else, without exception. We have always known as a notion that we were limited, but eventually we learn this through being immersed in the reality. The illusion of youth hides that; the honesty of adulthood unveils it.”

· We are all vulnerable and dependent, that is the truth that the pandemic laid bare for us to see.