Problems of evil statements

Ernest Hepnar photo

From

2003 The Problem of Evil: Anglican and Baptist Perspectives: MPhil thesis, Bangor University 

MPhil

(Comments from September 27, 2019 in brackets)

Statements twelve, thirteen, fourteen and fifteen:

Statement twelve stated: The philosophical discussion of the problem of evil is beneficial.

With Anglicans 80% agreed, 14% were not certain, and 6% disagreed. In the Baptist group, 84% agreed, 10% were not certain, and 6% disagreed.

The thirteenth statement stated: Philosophers cannot solve the problem of evil.
 
For Anglicans 84% agreed, 8% were not certain, 8% disagreed. With the Baptists 86% agreed, 12% were not certain, and 2% disagreed.

Statement fourteen stated: There is no single philosophical solution solving every aspect of the problem of evil. 

Within the Anglican Church people surveyed, 88% agreed, 6% were not certain, and 6% disagreed. With Baptists, 86% agreed, 8% were not certain, and 6% disagreed.

I believe that Christ’s restoring work is the ultimate remedy for the problem of evil; however, I do not think there is a single philosophical answer to every individual problem of evil that arises. Logically, individual problems of evil are solvable, but only God has ultimate answers for many of these problems.

(An important idea from my key compatibilistic exemplar, John S. Feinberg, is that there are various problems of evil and therefore, various remedies and solutions. My MPhil thesis and especially my PhD thesis, discussed both logical problems of evil and gratuitous problems of evil and their solutions.)

Statement fifteen: Statement fifteen stated: Philosophers can provide theistic solutions to problems of evil. 

For Anglicans, 44% agreed, 26% were not certain, 30% disagreed. For Baptists, 46% agreed, 22% were not certain, and 32% disagreed.

With statement fifteen, I side with the minority of the responders who agreed that philosophers can provide theistic solutions to problems of evil. For example, I think there are logical arguments that can demonstrate that God can be infinite, omnipotent and perfectly holy, yet have evil exist within his creation. I do not believe there is a logical problem of evil for Christianity that theologians and philosophers cannot solve; however, I still think the overall problem of evil, with all of its complexities, can only be intellectually solved by God.

(I view gratuitous evils as also logically solvable by humanity and provided a solution within my PhD thesis, please see archives. But only God can fully intellectually solve and remedy gratuitous evil (s).)

Human beings can rightly reason that God is not a contradictory being by having evil exist within his creation, but they cannot completely understand how this takes place. There is still a tension in existence.

(Both my theses also focused on practical and contextual theologies that can serve as helps to persons within problems of suffering. Empirical theology also produced useful data in both my works.)

2010 Theodicy and Practical Theology: PhD thesis, the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, Lampeter.

FEINBERG, JOHN S. (1994) The Many Faces of Evil, Grand Rapids, Zondervan Publishing House.