Evil and the Problem of Justification: Re-examining Some Traditional Theodicies

• Emmanuel Adetokunbo Ogundele, Ph.D

  Dominican University, Ibadan

  Author

• Abídèmí Israel Ògúnyọmí

  Dominican University, Ibadan

  Author

Reconciling the existence of a perfectly good God with the reality of evil in the world seems to be an impossible - or rather an unimaginable endeavour for some scholars. J. L. Mackie, for instance, maintains a logical incompatibility thesis, stating that three of the essential attributes of God, namely: omnipotence, omniscience and omnibenevolence cannot be consistently upheld like the theists maintain, in the face of the reality of evil and human suffering in the world. Scholars like William Rowe, David Hume and J. S. Mill also contend that every instance or trace of evil and suffering in the actual human world makes the existence of the creator of the world who is also perfectly good at best, probable. However, some scholars have attempted to explain the compatibility of the existence of a perfectly good God with the reality of evil in the world. This very endeavour is known in philosophy of religion and theology as theodicy. There are four traditional types of theodicy: The Augustinian tradition, the Iranaean tradition, the Hickian Soul making tradition and Process theodicy. Using the methods of analysis and critical argumentation, we attempt a critical re-evaluation of these theodicies, bringing out the problems inherent in them. Our critical investigation reveals that these theodicies inhere some weaknesses which render them insufficient in the rationalisation of the compatibility of the existence of a perfectly good God with the reality of evil in the world.

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