Arnold van Ruler’s critique of a sense of the tragic: An appraisal

Abstract

This contribution is aimed at provoking a discussion of the widespread contemporary retrieval of a sense of the tragic. It focuses on the rather vehement critique of any theological affirmation of the tragic in the work of Arnold van Ruler. His theology offers a radical and sustained affirmation of the goodness of God’s creation. He argues that our problem is not being finite creatures, human nature or the Creator, but human sin (due to the human will, not human nature), understood primarily as guilt before God. The analysis of Van Ruler’s position adopts the strategy of catena and commentary based on Volume 3 and Volume 5C of his Verzameld Werk (2009, 2023). It concludes that Van Ruler’s sharp critique of the tragic may well be appropriate but that he underestimates the problem of so-called natural evil. With Martin Versfeld, a retrieval of the comic, either alongside or instead of the tragic, is advised.