Die Wurzel allen Übels

The question of the origin of evil has always troubled philosophical and religious thinkers. Unde malum? Wherever human beings are shattered by the experience of violence and destruction, illness and death, but also by the experience of the soul's unfathomability, the question of cause and accountability arises. The continuing search for answers, through the narration of myths, through philosophical reflection, through psychological, social and political rationalization or through the formulation of scientific hypotheses is outlined in this volume in the literature of the first to the fourth century AD. The texts studied reflect a desire which pervades the history of ideas, philosophy and religion, a desire to understand the conditions of human existence and to probe the experience of human suffering, driven by the hope that in the end we might be able to rise above evil or at least domesticate it intellectually.