Editing Problem of evil (section)

=== Cruciform theodicy ===
Cruciform theodicy is not a full theodical system in the same manner that Soul-making theodicy and Process theodicy are, so it does not address all the questions of "the origin, nature, problem, reason and end of evil."<ref name="Mark S. M. Scott"/>{{rp|145}} It is, instead, a thematic trajectory. Historically, it has been and remains the primary Christian response to the problem of evil.<ref name="Anderson, A. K."/>{{rp|79–80}}

In cruciform theodicy, God is not a distant deity. In the person of Jesus, [[James Cone]] states that a suffering individual will find that God identifies himself "with the suffering of the world".<ref name="James H. Cone oppressed">{{cite book |last1=Cone |first1=James H. |title=God of the Oppressed |date=1997 |publisher=Orbis Books |isbn=9781608330386}}</ref>

This theodicy sees incarnation as the "culmination of a series of things Divine love does to unite itself with material creation" to first share in that suffering and demonstrate empathy with it, and second to recognize its value and cost by redeeming it.<ref name="Marilyn McCord Adams">{{cite book |last1=Adams |first1=Marilyn McCord |title=Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God |date=2000 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=9780801486869 |pages=164–168 |edition=reprint}}</ref> This view asserts that an ontological change in the underlying structure of existence has taken place through the life and death of Jesus, with its immersion in human suffering, thereby transforming suffering itself. Philosopher and Christian priest [[Marilyn McCord Adams]] offers this as a theodicy of "[[redemptive suffering]]" in which personal suffering becomes an aspect of Christ's "transformative power of redemption" in the world. In this way, personal suffering does not only have value for one's self, it becomes an aspect of redeeming others.<ref name="Marilyn McCord Adams"/>{{rp|ix}}<ref name="Mark S. M. Scott"/>{{rp|158–168}}

For the individual, there is an alteration in the thinking of the believer as they come to see existence in this new light. For example, "On July 16, 1944 awaiting execution in a [[Nazi]] prison and reflecting on Christ's experience of powerlessness and pain, [[Dietrich Bonhoeffer]] penned six words that became the clarion call for the modern theological paradigm: 'Only the suffering God can help'."<ref name="Mark S. M. Scott"/>{{rp|146}}
 
This theodicy contains a special concern for the victims of the world, and stresses the importance of caring for those who suffer at the hands of injustice.<ref name="Mark S. M. Scott"/>{{rp|146–148}} Soelle says that Christ's willingness to suffer on behalf of others means that his followers must themselves serve as "God's representatives on earth" by struggling against evil and injustice and being willing to suffer for those on the "underside of history".<ref name="Dorothee Soelle">{{cite book |last1=Soelle |first1=Dorothee |title=Thinking about God |date=2016 |publisher=Wipf & Stock Publishers |isbn=9781498295765|page=134}}</ref>