The End of Evil: Process Eschatology in Historical Context

The topic of evil and redemption has been at the center of the Western tradition since the beginning of the Christian era. In The End of Evil, Suchocki explores the source and end of evil in the thought of Augustine, Leibniz, Kant, Schleiermacher, Hegel, and Nietzsche. Whitehead’s philosophy is used as a creative response to the problems and possibilities raised in these earlier developments. This is a major piece of scholarship. It is clearly and gracefully written. Far from merely summarizing existing process approaches to eschatology, Suchocki intricately works out, for the first time, a systematic treatment of the source and end of evil. The topics of evil, of theodicy, of eschatology, central concerns of Christian theology, receive a systematic treatment here from both an historical and a philosophical perspective. This makes the book more than a theological exercise. At the same time, it rises above much current philosophical literature by focusing on categories of existence (rather than language) such as freedom and finitude, treated in terms of a unified theory. I believe her explication of the Whiteheadian basis for this particular process eschatology will be an important (not to say popular) interpretation.＂＂ --Nancy Frankenberry, Professor of Religion Dartmouth College I particularly admire Suchocki’s historical sense. She lodges the problem of evil in the development of the western tradition, and treats a variety of extremely different contexts--from Augustine to Nietzsche--with care and competence. As her own view, which is of course an extension of Whitehead’s, begins to unfold in the second half of the book, it is enriched and clarified by her account of the background out of which she understands it to have emerged. I was also impressed by Suchocki’s ability to maintain a successful tension between her own religious commitments--frankly stated in the introduction--and a rigorous, disinterested philosophical analysis.＂＂ --Brian J. Martine, author of Indeterminacy and Intelligibility Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki is Professor Emerita at Claremont School of Theology, Claremont, California. She is the author of serveral books including Divinity and Diversity; God, Christ, Church; and The Fall to Violence.

Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki is Professor Emerita at Claremont School of Theology, Claremont, California. She is the author of serveral books including Divinity and Diversity; God, Christ, Church; and The Fall to Violence.