After the Flood: Theodicy in a Sixth-Year Classroom
A sixth-year RE class is discussing the problem of evil. The previous weekend, a river burst its banks in a nearby town; two people died, including a former student's grandmother. A student asks: 'If God is all-good and all-powerful, why did God let the flood happen? My uncle says religion is just a coping mechanism.' Another student replies that the flood was punishment for sin, citing a Bible passage. The teacher has 35 minutes and no counsellor available on site that morning. The school has a counselling referral process; the bereaved student is in the class. The syllabus requires engagement with the problem of evil and with Trinitarian and Christological responses.
1. How should the teacher respond in the moment, balancing pastoral care, accurate theology and the syllabus?
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First acknowledge the death and the grief in the room; do not rush to explanation. Then reject the punishment claim clearly, because it is pastorally harmful and theologically inadequate: Luke 13:1-5 and John 9:1-3 show Jesus refusing the link between suffering and sin. Distinguish natural evil, such as a flood, from moral evil, such as choices that worsened flood risk through poor planning. Avoid false reassurance: 'God needed another angel' and 'it was God's will' should not be used. Offer the crucifixion as the central Christian claim: God does not stand outside suffering but enters it. The Trinity is not a solution to the problem of evil but the grammar of God's presence: the Father who hears lament, the Son who suffers, and the Spirit who comforts. Check quietly on the bereaved student and offer the counselling referral. Use the remaining minutes for a short, honest input and silence rather than a debate.
2. Design a follow-up activity that teaches a Christological response to suffering without exploiting the bereaved student.
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Use a text-based activity on Mark 15:33-39 or Psalm 22. Give students three questions: What does the text say God is doing? What does it not say? How does it answer, or fail to answer, the 'why'? Students work in pairs with an opt-out and no requirement to share personal experience. The teacher's input should distinguish lament from explanation: the psalms and the cross give words to suffering rather than a formula that explains it. Connect the activity to the syllabus on Christology and salvation: the cross is not a transaction that explains evil, but God's solidarity with the sufferer and the defeat of death. Assess students' ability to distinguish between a theodicy and a Christian response of presence. Close with a written exit ticket, not a circle-time disclosure exercise, so that the bereaved student is not put on the spot.