Recent Work on the Problem of Evil

Abstract

SINCE this book was first published, eleven years ago, the problem of evil has continued to be one of the most actively discussed topics within the philosophy of religion. I do not think that there have been any startlingly new or transforming contributions during this decade. There has however been a very useful clarification of the purely logical situation, in that Alvin Plantinga, Nelson Pike and others have shown that the claim of some philosophers that the reality of evil makes possible a strict logical disproof of God’s existence is mistaken: for it remains logically possible that an infinitely good and powerful deity permits evil for a good purpose. But this logical possibility having been established, the problem of evil, as it actually influences the rational and moral consciousness against belief in God, remains as challenging as ever.