Responding to Evil

by Joseph F. Kelly

In Responding to Evil Joseph Kelly treats evil as a force in our personal lives. He talks about the impact of September 11 on the American consciousness and how that brought the question of evil front and center. Professor Kelly then looks at what evil does to us and how previous generations have dealt with it. By focusing on the sins people commit rather than the questions psychologists tend to focus on, such as murder or theft, or on tragedies that occurred in Rwanda or during the Holocaust, Kelly makes the discussion of evil relevant to readers like us who are not really "evil" but who face the problem of our own sinfulness every day. In taking up the intellectual question of how God and evil can coexist Kelly relates the ideas in the book to real-life situations, especially of good and caring people. Finally, he shares how we can respond to evil and looks at how some modern Christians, often ordinary people, have done so.

96 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2003

About the author

Joseph F. Kelly, PhD, is professor of religious studies at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. His books include The Feast of Christmas, The Origins of Christmas, The Ecumenical Councils of the Catholic Church, and others, all published by Liturgical Press.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would like to give this book two ratings. First the overall rating is above. Two stars because this book attempts to tackle such a deep topic in such a short book. It brings up fascinating and weighted topics but never dives below the surface. It leaves more questions than answers. It brought up more topics and "rabbit holes" to go down than I started with when choosing to read this book. An example oils be when the author discusses the fall of apartheid in South Africa. The author discusses the "restorative approach" to justice and how victims and the perpetrators we allowed to discuss and bring the atrocities and crimes to light. He never tells us what happens after the discussion or to those people who chose not to participate.

My second rating would be to rate this book as a conversation starter. For that I would give it five stars. It makes you think, far above the few questions the author provides at the end of each section. It will challenge some of your own beliefs and make you want to learn more.

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author uses Dante's Inferno and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as examples in his book. Now I want to read those, too. This one's a short book. Read it slowly and let it sink in. It's a treatment of how to respond to evil written in a scholarly tone from a Christian point of view.