The Problem of the Evil and Philosophy of Religion Essay

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In the book, Exploring the Philosophy of Religion, David Steward puts forward the idea about two types of evil: moral and natural. Moral evil addresses the sufferings caused by human perverseness and people have been presented as the ones who are capable of bringing great physical and moral pain to each other, which reveals natural evil as less damaging in comparison. The editor of the book presents these concepts through the prism of theological teachings about the causality of God’s deeds in the world. In this way, the books present different ideas expressed by Griffin, Hick, and Doniger on the reasons and nature of evil. The authors also present theodicy in addressing the definitions of natural and moral evil.

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Griffin’s justification of the presence of evil in the world is revealed in his article called God in Process where he presents different underpinnings and theodicy of sufferings that existed on Earth. Hence, Griffin first relies on the traditional explanation of perceiving evil as the one contributing to a higher good. Further, the author firmly believes that it is impossible to impose limitations on God’s evil, as they are only imposed in reality but not in the actual sense. Therefore, the philosopher withdraws the idea about God’s omnipotence and the creation of the world from nothing (“ex nihilo”), which are the basics of his theodicy. At this point, Griffin leads to the point that each thing has an innate power that should be controlled by God (Griffin 176). Hence, moral evil is the one that arises from the limitation of God’s power whereas natural evil is the one that is connected with the evolutionary process, which is closer to scientific explanation.

John Hick, the author of Evil and the God of Love, insists on the idea that theodicy is “unavoidable … in the virtue of the nature that the world and of the essential character of the Christian understanding of God” (Hick 194). Therefore, the philosopher justifies suffering experienced by people as the soul-making process. In other words, moral evil serves as a means of comparison with good. Both moral and natural evil is necessary to God, whose omnipotence is revealed through freedom of choice allowing to address either the good or bad side. According to Hick, moral evil is that experienced by people where God is a spectator. It is also perceived as an absence of good and limitation of God’s power.

Doniger presents an alternative interpretation of moral and natural evil. In particular, she believes that our evil actions, thoughts, and behavior can be subjected to causality thus affecting our future. The author explores the Hindu philosophy that considers a person’s life as the cycle of rebirths (Doniger 184). Through the representation of Karma, Doniger explains the origins of moral evil. In contrast, natural evil is the one that does not depend on human actions and behavior, which is often misunderstood in other religions. Therefore, these two displays of evil are strictly distinguished in Hinduism.

In conclusion, all philosophers agree to the idea that moral evil arises as to the outcome of the limitation of God’s power. Then, they are also unanimous regarding the consideration of humans as self-determined beings, which are entitled to the right to choose either evil or good. However, the ideas expressed by Wendy Doniger present a different view on the origins of moral evil. As for natural evil, all the philosophers consider it as an independent variable.

References

Doniger, Wendy. “Karma in Hindu Thought”. Exploring the Philosophy of Religion. ed. Stewart, David. US: Prentice Hall, 2006. 184-187.

Griffin, David. “God in Process”. Exploring the Philosophy of Religion. ed. Stewart, David. US: Prentice Hall, 2006. 174-179.

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Hick, John. “Evil and the God of Love”. Exploring the Philosophy of Religion. ed. Stewart, David. US: Prentice Hall, 2006.192-197.

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IvyPanda. (2021) 'The Problem of the Evil and Philosophy of Religion'. 17 December.

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IvyPanda. 2021. "The Problem of the Evil and Philosophy of Religion." December 17, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-problem-of-the-evil/.

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