This book addresses the challenging and old question of theodicy: If God is infinitely good, how can there be so much pain and suffering in this world? The special emphasis of the articles is on an interdisciplinary approach to this question, taking into account perspectives not only from theology and philosophy, but also from evolutionary theory, biology, medicine, anthropology, cognitive science, and many other related fields. This allowed our thirteen (13) authors to reflect on the intertwining of fundamental concepts such as evolution, nature, suffering, pain, values, evil, and good.

Dancing in the Dark is the title of a 1930s love song that has a philosophical edge, and in its own way encapsulates the central problem, What is life about? Can we possibly come to terms with life's vicissitudes, and can these be understood within a religious framework? The problem of theodicy is the most intractable issue in the philosophy of religion. It calls into question the vexed supplementary problems of revelation, free will, and determinism. Indeed, for would-be believers, it undermines the very rationality of their existence. Consequently, it has been the subject of interminable debate without any completely satisfactory solution.

In this long-awaited book, pre-eminent analytical philosopher Alvin Plantinga argues that the conflict between science and theistic religion is actually superficial, and that at a deeper level they are in concord.

Animal suffering constitutes perhaps the greatest challenge to rational belief in the existence of God. Considerations that render human suffering theologically intelligible seem inapplicable to animal suffering. In this book, Dougherty defends radical possibilities for animal afterlife that allow a soul-making theodicy to apply to their case.

"Claudia Weltz explores responses to the problem of evil that do not end up in a theodicy. Kierkegaard's and Rosenzweig's reasons for having no reason to defend God and their ethics of love are discussed in the context of German idealism and French phenomenology."--BOOK JACKET.

First published in 1984 and recently revised and updated, this book deals with the problem of evil, or theodicy (God's justice). It contends that the process of evolution, particularly as it bears on the emergence of free will, rather than being a barrier to faith, gives us the key to understanding its greatest obstacle - the existence of so much suffering in the world. It further advances the still contested claim that God is truly our fellow sufferer in our struggle to overcome evil in all of its many forms.

"Theodicy" is a book of philosophy by the German polymath Gottfried Leibniz published in 1710, whose optimistic approach to the problem of evil is thought to have inspired Voltaire's "Candide". Much of the work consists of a response to the ideas of the French philosopher Pierre Bayle, with whom Leibniz carried on a debate for many years. The "Theodicy" tries to justify the apparent imperfections of the world by claiming that it is optimal among all possible worlds. It must be the best possible and most balanced world, because it was created by an all powerful and all knowing God, who would not choose to create an imperfect world if a better world could be known to him or possible to exist. In effect, apparent flaws that can be identified in this world must exist in every possible world, because otherwise God would have chosen to create the world that excluded those flaws. Leibniz distinguishes three forms of evil: moral, physical, and metaphysical. Moral evil is sin, physical evil is pain, and metaphysical evil is limitation. God permits moral and physical evil for the sake of greater goods, and metaphysical evil is unavoidable since any created universe must necessarily fall short of God's absolute perfection.

Gregory Boyd seeks to defend his scripturally grounded trinitarian warfare theod-icy with rigorous philosophical reflection and insights from human experience and scientific discovery.

How to reconcile the existence of evil with the belief in a benevolent God has long posed a philosophical problem to the system of Christian theism. This work redress this difficulty in modern terms.