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Providence and the Problem of Evil

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Richard Swinburne offers an answer to one of the most difficult problems of religious belief: why does a loving God allow humans to suffer so much? Swinburne argues that God wants much more for us than pleasure or freedom from suffering: he wants us to learn and to love, to make the choices which make great differences for good or evil to each other, to form our characters in the way we choose; above all, to be of great use to each other. If we are to have all this, there will inevitably be suffering for the short period of our lives on Earth. Because of the good that God gives to humans in this life, and makes possible, through our choice, thereafter, he does not wrong us in allowing suffering. Providence and the Problem of Evil is the final instalment of Swinburne's acclaimed four-volume philosophical examination of Christian doctrine. -;Why does a loving God allow humans to suffer so much? This is one of the most difficult problems of religious belief. Richard Swinburne gives a careful, clear examination of this problem, and offers an answer: it is because God wants more for us than just pleasure or freedom from suffering. Swinburne argues that God wants humans to learn and to love, to make the choices which make great differences for good and evil to each other, to form our characters in the way we choose; above all to be of great use to each other. If we are to have all this, there will inevitably be suffering for the short period of our lives on Earth. But because of the good that God gives to humans in this life, and because he makes it possible for us, through our choice, to share the life of Heaven, he does not wrong us if he allows suffering. Providence and the Problem of Evil is the final volume of Richard Swinburne's acclaimed tetralogy on Christian doctrine. It may be read on its own as a self-standing treatment of this eternal philosophical issue. Readers who are interested in a unified study of the philosophical foundations of Christian belief will find it now in the tetralogy and in his trilogy on the philosophy of theism. -

263 pages, ebook

First published August 27, 1998

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About the author

Richard Swinburne

46 books146 followers
Richard G. Swinburne is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford. Over the last 50 years Swinburne has been a very influential proponent of natural theology, that is, philosophical arguments for the existence of God. His philosophical contributions are primarily in philosophy of religion and philosophy of science. He aroused much discussion with his early work in the philosophy of religion, a trilogy of books consisting of The Coherence of Theism, The Existence of God, and Faith and Reason.

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214 reviews187 followers
September 21, 2023
Swinburne’s theodicy is the following: there are several goods in the world (such as very serious free will, responsibility, justified belief, etc) that we would expect a good God to provide that cannot logically exist without the existence of evil. He goes over how these things are great goods in the first section and, in the second section, explains why they cannot logically exist without the existence of evil. After that, he makes a convincing case that God has a right to allow evil to exist to create these great goods. Loved this book, but Swinburne’s theodicy isn’t my favorite. I think there’s more accessible theodicies out there.

Edit: I changed my mind about this theodicy not being my favorite. After thinking about it carefully, I can say this book presents the best theodicy out there that I’ve seen!
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