A Good God in a Wicked World: Considering the Problem of Evil, Part 2

By Jonathan Moreno. From DBSJ 22 (2017): 75-90. Republished with permission. Read the series.

The Complexity of the Problem

Grappling with the problem of evil is a notoriously dubious endeavor due in part to the complexity of the problem. Therefore, if any viable solutions are to be reached, the specific kind of evil must be recognized and defined, and the theological system in which that evil resides must be identified.

Discussion

The Stoic Generation

Body

“For an ancient philosophy, Stoicism is wildly popular right now. Silicon Valley tech barons and young men in weight rooms across the country are searching for guidance, and they often find it among the maxims of Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius.” - Acton

Discussion

Why you should get to know Thomas Aquinas, even 800 years after he lived

Body

“Famously, he insisted that faith and reason are in harmonious partnership, integrating the known science, philosophy and theology of his day into a comprehensive, interconnected system. All this helps explain why his work has maintained an enduring appeal, even as equally brilliant medieval thinkers have sunk into oblivion.” - RNS

Discussion

Doubting Thomas: Why the Evangelical Crush on Aquinas Needs to Mature

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“The pendulum of 20th-century evangelical scholarship on Aquinas has swung between strongly negative appraisals (…Francis Schaeffer and Cornelius Van Til…) and, since the 1980s, more appreciative receptions (…Norman Geisler and Arvin Vos).

Discussion

Christian Platonism: Friend or Foe?

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“I am becoming concerned that we are witnessing, in the recent ascendency of the ‘premodern’ in contemporary evangelical literature, the triumph of Barth and ultimately of Gnosticism in the evangelical church” - Mark Snoeberger

Discussion