Faith and Philosophy 4 (4):486-505 (1987)
Abstract |
Over the past thirty years, analytical philosophers of religion have confronted the problem of evil in the guise of the atheistic argument from evil against the existence of God. Many have met it from the posture of defense, constructing logically possible morally sufficient reasons for divine permission of evils from the materials of religion-neutral value-theory. At best, such defenses vindicate divine goodness along the dimension “producer of global goods,” while neglecting the religiously more relevant dimension of His goodness to individual suffering creatures. My methodological recommendation is that we Christian philosophers shift away from defense and concentrate on formulating what we really believe about the goodness of God and how He is solving the problem of evil. If successful, our accounts would not only exhibit how divine permission of evils is logically consistent with His goodness to creatures, but also advertise Him as a character worthy of worship. Failures would pinpoint more precisely where and how evil is a problem for us. I illustrate this method by examining Duns Scotus’ many-faceted conception of divine goodness and measure its power to explain the compossibility of God and evil
|
Keywords | Contemporary Philosophy Philosophy and Religion |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
ISBN(s) | 0739-7046 |
DOI | 10.5840/faithphil19874445 |
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options
References found in this work BETA
Citations of this work BETA
Victimization and the Problem of Evil: A Response to Ivan Karamazov.Thomas F. Tracy - 1992 - Faith and Philosophy 9 (3):301-319.
Holy, Holy, Holy: Divine Holiness and Divine Perfection.Mark C. Murphy - forthcoming - Religious Studies:1-25.
Divine Satisficing and the Ethics of the Problem of Evil.Chris Tucker - 2020 - Faith and Philosophy 37 (1):32-56.
View all 6 citations / Add more citations
Similar books and articles
Could God Do Something Evil? A Molinist Solution to the Problem of Divine Freedom.R. Zachary Manis - 2011 - Faith and Philosophy 28 (2):209-223.
God’s Moral Goodness and Supererogation.Elizabeth Drummond Young - 2013 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 73 (2):83-95.
Happiness and the Willing Agent.Bonnie Kent - 2004 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 78:59-70.
God, Goodness, and Philosophy: Morality and Philosophy of Religion.Harriet A. Harris (ed.) - 2011 - Ashgate.
Against God’s Moral Goodness.Joseph L. Lombardi - 2005 - American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 79 (2):313-326.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2011-01-09
Total views
140 ( #68,164 of 2,403,526 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
5 ( #156,285 of 2,403,526 )
2011-01-09
Total views
140 ( #68,164 of 2,403,526 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
5 ( #156,285 of 2,403,526 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads