The Blackwell Companion to the Problem of Evil presents a collection of original essays contributed by established and emerging scholars who clarify and evaluate various problems of evil and arguments from evil. This resource represents an invaluable scholarly contribution to the latest thinking on the most serious objection to the existence of an omnipotent and benevolent higher power.

Table of Contents

• Notes on Contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Part I: Problems of Evil
• 1: A Brief History of Problems of Evil
• Introduction
• Another Footnote to Plato
• “Epicurus' Old Questions” and Ancient Skepticism
• Augustine and the Manichean Problem of Evil
• The Argument from Evil in Aquinas's Summa
• Calvin, Descartes, and the Early-Modern Obsession with Evil
• Bayle and the Insolubility of the Problem of Evil
• The First Logical and Evidential Arguments from Evil
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgments
• 2: The Logical Problem of Evil: Mackie and Plantinga
• Mackie's Logical Problem of Evil
• Plantinga's Free Will Defense
• Assessing Plantinga's Free Will Defense
• Interworld Plenitude and Intraworld Plenitude
• Two Objections
• 3: A New Logical Problem of Evil
• Three Commitments of Theism
• Developing the Proof: The Modeling Approach
• Developing the Proof: The Motives Approach
• Some Final Objections
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgments
• 4: Rowe's Evidential Arguments from Evil
• Two Cases
• Rowe's Arguments
• Initial Comments on Rowe's Arguments
• Framework and Assessment
• A Central Issue
• A Further Consideration
• Acknowledgments
• 5: Explanation and the Problem of Evil
• Humean Arguments from Evil (by Paul Draper)
• Reflections on Explanation and Draper's Argument (by Trent Dougherty)
• 6: A Carnapian Argument from Evil
• Tooley's First Argument
• Tooley's Second Argument
• Problems Facing Tooley's Second Argument
• Problems Facing Tooley's First Argument
• Conclusion
• 7: The Experience of Evil and Support for Atheism
• Richard Swinburne's Principle of Credulity
• William Alston's Doxastic Practice Approach
• Alvin Plantinga's Proper Functionalism
• Acceptance and Provisional Acceptance
• Noetic Reconstruction
• Value-Attitude Reformation
• Why Mediated Support Works
• Acknowledgments
• 8: The Problem of Animal Pain and Suffering
• Neo-Cartesian Defenses
• Why the Neo-Cartesian Defenses Fail
• Nomic Regularity and the Progression from Chaos to Order
• Concluding Remarks
• 9: Hell and the Problem of Evil
• Introduction
• The Problem Stated
• The Traditional View of Hell
• The Vagueness Objection
• The Proportionality Objection
• Nontraditional Views of Hell
• The Choice Model
• Universalist Strategies
• Acknowledgment
• 10: The Problem of Apparently Morally Abhorrent Divine Commands
• Richard Swinburne and the Canaanites
• Eleonore Stump and the Amalekites
• Inscrutable Reasons? Unknown Goods?
• Acknowledgment
• 11: God Because of Evil: A Pragmatic Argument from Evil for Belief in God
• The Argument
• Entrenched Practices and Attitudes
• Realism
• Horrendous Evils
• Ad Hominem Argument, Asserted
• Nontheistic Alternatives
• Personality, How Fundamental?
• God Because of Evils?
• Part II: Theodicies
• 12: A Brief History of Theodicy
• Irenaeus (circa 130–202) and Soul-Making
• St. Augustine (354–430), Privatio Boni, and Free Will
• Leibniz (1646–1716) and the Best of All Possible Worlds
• Joseph Butler (1692–1752) and the Imperfect Comprehension of God's Government
• George W.F. Hegel (1770–1831) and the Cunning of Reason
• C.S. Lewis (1898–1963), Free Will, and God's Megaphone
• A.C. Ewing (1899–1973) and the Principle of Organic Unities
• Alvin Plantinga (b.1937), Free Will Defense, and “O Felix Culpa” Theodicy
• Richard Swinburne (b. 1934) and the Goods that Outweigh Evil
• Looking Back
• Acknowledgments
• 13: Counterpart and Appreciation Theodicies
• Necessary Conditions for a Successful Theodicy
• The Counterpart Theodicy
• The Appreciation Theodicy
• Acknowledgments
• 14: Free Will and Soul-Making Theodicies
• Hick's Theodicy
• Hick on Free Will
• Hick on Soul-Making
• Swinburne's Theodicy
• Swinburne on Free Will
• Swinburne on Soul-Making
• Challenges Facing Free Will and Soul-Making Theodicies
• The Challenges of Free Will
• The Challenges of Soul-Making
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgments
• 15: The Connection-Building Theodicy
• Introduction
• The CBT Explained
• Fruitfulness and Implications
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgments
• 16: Best Possible World Theodicy
• Three Puzzles and Their Independence
• Motivating the Puzzles for Theists
• The Hypothesis of a Best Possible World: The Letter and the Spirit
• The Multiverse
• The Multiverse and the Second and Third Inconsistent Triads
• The Multiverse and the First Inconsistent Triad
• Acknowledgments
• 17: Providence and Theodicy
• Introduction
• Three Theories of Providence
• Theodicies, Defenses, and Theories of Providence
• A Patently Partisan Epilogue
• Acknowledgment
• 18: A Christian Theodicy
• The Character of Religious Experience
• Suffering as Religious Experience
• The Value of Relationships
• Divine Passibility
• Problems for the Divine Intimacy Theodicy
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgments
• 19: Toward an Indian Theodicy
• The Psychology of Karma
• Nyāya School of Logic and Theism
• The Vedānta Theodicy
• Conclusion
• 20: Earth's Epistemic Fruits for Harmony with God: An Islamic Theodicy
• Introduction
• The Best Life Depending on Harmony with God
• Submission to God as the Necessary Condition for a Good Human Life (The Meaning of Islam)
• Human Epistemic Privilege and the Need to Be Trained
• God's Epistemic Aid
• The Epistemic Fruits of the Earthly Testing Ground
• Acknowledgments
• 21: On Constructing a Jewish Theodicy
• Retribution
• Atonement, Trial, Sufferings of Love
• Mazzal
• Kabbalistic Views
• Soul-Making Theodicy
• Antitheodicy: The “Halakhic” or Existentialist Response
• Summary
• Acknowledgments
• 22: Feminism and the Problem of Evil
• Introduction
• Defining Feminism
• Women and Evil
• Gendering the Subject
• Structural Nature of Evil
• Challenging the “Purpose” of Evil
• Evil in Relationships
• Evil and the Concept of God
• Conclusion
• 23: Process Theism and Theodicies for Problems of Evil
• Traditional Theodicy
• Process Theodicy
• 24: Theodicy in a Vale of Tears
• Methodological Preliminaries
• Classifying Theodicies
• Stump's Theodicy
• Reply to Stump
• Stump: Further Reflections
• Nothing But the Best
• The Objection from Divine Simplicity
• The Plenum Objection
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgment
• 25: Antitheodicy
• The Morality of Theodicy
• Nonmoral Objections to Theodicy
• Acknowledgments
• Part III: Skeptical Responses
• 26: A Brief History of Skeptical Responses to Evil
• Introduction: Contemporary Skeptical Responses Contextualized
• Skeptical Theism and the Book of Job
• Medieval Commentaries on Job
• Skeptical Theism and Apophatic Theology
• Cartesian Skepticism
• Conclusion
• 27: Peter van Inwagen's Defense
• Van Inwagen and Skeptical Theism
• Pointless Evils and Practical Sorites Problems
• Objections to van Inwagen's Defense
• Applications: Universalism and the Fall
• Acknowledgments
• 28: A Defense Without Free Will
• Skepticism about Free Will
• The Free Will Theodicy
• The Retributive Punishment Theodicy
• Agnosticism (or Skeptical Theism)
• Defense Hypotheses the Free Will Skeptic Can Accept and which are Compatible with Morality
• Acknowledgment
• 29: Skeptical Theism, CORNEA, and Common Sense Epistemology
• Introduction
• Skeptical Theism
• CORNEA
• Objections to CORNEA: Closure and Induction
• Skeptical Theism and Common-Sense Epistemology
• Conclusion
• 30: The Moral Skepticism Objection to Skeptical Theism
• The Evidential Argument from Evil
• Skeptical Theism
• Skeptical Theism and Radical Skepticism
• Skeptical Theism and Moral Obligation
• Skeptical Theism and God's Commands
• Acknowledgments
• 31: The Global Skepticism Objection to Skeptical Theism
• Skeptical Theism and Knowledge of God
• Skeptical Theism and Knowledge in General
• Acknowledgments
• 32: Theistic Objections to Skeptical Theism
• The Evidential Argument from Evil
• Skeptical Theism
• Problems for Beliefs about Sin and Morality
• Problems for the Theology of Divine Goodness
• Problems for Natural Theology
• Problems for Belief in Miracles
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgment
• 33: Skeptical Theism and the “Too Much Skepticism” Objection
• What Is Skeptical Theism?
• The Too-Much-Skepticism Objection
• Global Skepticism
• Skepticism About Value
• Skepticism About (Other) Knowledge of God
• Moral Paralysis
• Acknowledgments