The theological question Risai and Youko touch upon in this chapter revolves around theodicy, or arguments challenging or confirming the existence of the divine in the face of the existence of evil: "If God exists, why does He allow suffering to happen?" The answer Youko seems to arrive at is "theistic finitism," or the proposition that God is not truly omnipotent or omnipresent (or acts as such). On the other hand, the Greeks and Romans basically proposed that even if the Gods are omnipotent, they are not necessary good and certainly not trustworthy, which does make for more entertaining melodramas.

Labels: 12 kingdoms, shore in twilight