Why do bad things happen, even to good people? If there is a God, why aren't God's existence and God's will for humans more apparent? And if God really does miracles for some people, why not for others? This book examines these three problems of evil - suffering, divine hiddenness, and unfairness if miracles happen as believers claim - to explore how different ideas of God's power relate to the problem of evil. Keller argues that as long as God is believed to be all-powerful, there are no adequate answers to these problems, nor is it enough for theists simply to claim that human ignorance makes these problems insoluble. Arguing that there are no good grounds for the belief that God is all-powerful, Keller instead defends the understanding of God and God's power found in process theism and shows how it makes possible an adequate solution to the problems of evil while providing a concept of God that is religiously adequate.
Biography
James A. Keller, Ph.D. Yale University, is Samuel Pate Gardner Professor of Philosophy and Department Chair at Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC. He is Book Review Editor for the International Journal for Philosophy of Religion.
’... clearly written, carefully argued and eminently fair to opponents... This is an impressive work.’ International Journal for the Philosophy of Religion 'All of this is fascinating stuff, whether one is a philosopher or not. For the most part, the book [...] is systematic and engaging. Those of us who fled philosophy in terror of texts that suddenly break out into arcane mathematical equations can rest easy! Keller writes well. ... [His] book will hopefully invite us all to think more critically about God and the problem of evil.' Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae ’This book successfully demonstrates that theodicy is not restricted to human suffering, a point that needs constant reiterating, in view of the vast amount of suffering and the small percentage that humans make up of creation. Because pain, suffering, and extinction are intrinsic to the evolutionary process, the world that is ’good’ is also a world that is groaning in travail and subjected by God to this travail. This is a welcome addition to the literature regarding theodicy.’ Heythrop
