A tragic vision for Christianity: Aeschylus and Whitehead

Triumphalism hides a lacuna in the heart of Christianity. Standing proudly in the resurrection, Christianity often ignores its foundations in the scandal of the cross. This religion was born in the tragedy of torture and execution, yet fails to articulate a tragic vision that adequately attends to innocent suffering. Characterized as anti-tragic, Christianity is hampered in its ability to draw fruitfully from the rich resources of tragic literature. While steeped in Greek philosophy, theologians ignore Greek tragedy and its profound contributions to questions of evil and innocent suffering.;Christianity needs a tragic vision in order to more fully engage the reality of suffering and the analytical challenges that evil poses to the doctrines of divine benevolence and omnipotence. This dissertation draws together the literary genre of tragedy and the philosophical insights of process metaphysics to develop a tragic vision for Christianity.;In Aeschylus' Oresteia trilogy, I find a tragic vision that attends seriously to innocent suffering and finds hope in humans and gods working together. This Aeschylean vision resonates with the work of Alfred North Whitehead whose cosmology (although derided as anti-tragic) contains important tragic dimensions that bring metaphysical depth to the Greek dramatist's narrative. I submit that Aeschylus and Whitehead share a tragic vision. Process theology offers to the intellect what literary tragedy gives the soul. Together, they may be employed to build upon the seeds of a tragic vision in Christianity.;The seeds of Christian tragedy are scattered widely throughout scripture and theology. I identify and analyze these undercurrents so that they may serve as resources for a Christian tragic sensibility. Aeschylus and Whitehead help us see with new eyes a tragic vision that is available at the heart of Christianity--one that addresses the depth of innocent suffering, provides a rich and compelling image of divine power without clinging to omnipotence, and enlarges possibilities for hope and human responsibility. This is an outlook grounded in the reality of brokenness and ambiguity, yet resolutely focused on transformation.