Problem of Evil

There is an old adage: If God be God, he is not good. If God be good, he is not God. In this brief formulation is contained the full weight and import of the philosophical problem of evil. One begins with the proposition that God is almighty and all knowing. That being so, it follows that God is also all good. But the fact is that in God's world there is nevertheless ample evidence that evil exists. How is that possible? For if God is almighty, then evil must be laid at His feet. And that would mean that God Himself is evil, which seems a contradiction.

Augustine's response to this paradox involves articulation of his God-concept in general. And central to the response is a theology that is consistent with institutional Catholic orthodoxy on one hand and a highly personal leap of faith. Augustine begins by showing the necessary existence of God and the necessity of faith: "That one will I plainly acknowledge to be God, than whom it is proved nothing is superior. . . . When I shall have proved that what is above reason exists, it will be proved that God exists" (43). God is beyond reason, which cannot wrap itself around eternity, omnipotence, and the origin of creation.

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itself. But the surrender to faith does not explain or even battle evil, only to come to terms with it. Thus one may feel closer to God, but that does not remove the paradox, and why must reason, surely one of God's gifts, be rejected? It is difficult to see how a conception of God that affirms divine existence could fail to affirm God's goodness. In a monotheistic formulation, if God not be good, then why affirm existence of any God? In such a case evil would amount to something of a rival god, which suggests a divine dualism, with good and evil in competition for mankind. That was the content, indeed, of the so-called Manichaean heresy, which Augustine specifically rejected, as Book V of the Confessions explains. Besides, this by no means relieves mankind of culpability in evil, which is. In other words the paradox of evil in a universe where God is possible must be answered in terms of the givens of the relationship between man and man on one hand and man and God on the other. One way to reconcile the paradox without rejecting reason is to insist not upon divine omnipotence but rather on God's goodness. That is, perfect as God the creator may be compared to all else in creation, including humankind, God is not omnipotent. By
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Approximate Word count = 1249
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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