Abstract / DOI
Beyond the «Human, all too Human»: The Abyss of Evil and the Necessity of Deliverance. This essay examines the question of evil. It first introduces Leibniz’ idea that there is metaphysical, physical, and moral evil and argues that this distinction also captures the reality of evil as experienced by contemporary human beings. It then argues that the radical reality of evil is often overlooked and even denied, as in, for example, naturalistic tendencies to reduce evil to a «so-called» evil. Evil, then, appears to be «human, all too human». Over against these tendencies, it is necessary to consider the abysmal mystery of evil that can neither by fully understood nor be overcome by human beings alone. Thus, it is possible properly to understand the request to «deliver us from evil».