The Problem of Evil; A Criticism of the Augustinian Point of View

by Marion Le Roy Burton

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1909 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER IV UNDE EST MALUM? (Continued)" The origin of evil in man cannot appear so catastrophic as it did in the realm from which we have just emerged. Having penetrated into the mysteries of an unseen and unknown world and postulated there the source of evil in the will of a hypothetical being, having thus broken the charmed circle of a perfect universe which was the direct product of the creative power of the sole source of all being, it will not now be difficult to account for the origin of evil in the human race. Having once originated this blemish of all creation, it can never again be so difficult to explain its presence in any part of the universe. It must not be inferred from this, however, that Augustine did not grapple with this same puzzle in regard to man. In fact, so much of his thought deals specifically with this aspect of the problem that it has seemed wise to separate it from the preceding chapter. Here again we shall find our author dealing with conceptions which our age has rejected. Evolutionary thought has played havoc with many spheres of knowledge, disproving hypotheses and casting various conceptions into an unending oblivion. So in dealing with the thought of Augustine we need not be surprised to find the same results. His anthropology is antiquated. His conception of primitive man, perfectly harmonious with that tendency of all peoples to look back upon the past and idealize some far distant period into a golden age, must be set aside. But, just as in the last chapter, when dealing with the conceptions and beings of that strange land into which our author conducted us, we endeavored to overcome the impedimenta of ideas alien to our own times and to sift out the truth, so here we may well disregard the trappings...

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2012