For all its beauty and splendor, the world is replete with suffering, hardship, and misery. Why does evil exist? Is evil necessary? Can we ever hope to abolish evil? Philosophers, theologians, scientists, and laypeople have often pondered these questions, but their answers have generally been unconvincing or unhelpful. They have sometimes tried vainly to show that all evil is really for the best, and sometimes to dismiss the problem of evil as too profound to be answered. In The Evolution of Evil, Timothy Anders offers an original and persuasive solution to the 'Problem of Evil, ' one that is grounded in science. According to Anders, the root of all human suffering, and hence of all evil, is to be found in the historical process by which human life was created: evolution by natural selection. The compelling simplicity of this explanation has been overlooked because of several widely-held misconceptions, notably the view that evolution favors the good and eliminates the bad, or that evolution favors an inexorable ascent to 'higher, ' more intelligent, and more complex forms. At the heart of these misconceptions lie prejudices such as anthropocentrism -- the view that humankind is the 'point' of the universe, and that things therefore tend to be arranged for humanity's benefit; the assumption that nature is essentially benevolent toward humans; and political utopianism, which proclaims that it is possible to bring about a perfect or nearly perfect society. Anders exposes the roots of evil in humankind's biological background, showing that evolution is not benevolent or progressive, and that it tends to lead to suffering which can sometimes be mitigated but never entirely banished. Ourprimate ancestry has left us with many 'scars of evolution, ' inefficient components which lead to pain and disappointment. Anders shows that humans are especially poorly adapted to their environment. The fact that they rely heavily on culture and intelligence is not an unmixed blessing.

Vanquishing Evil Through the Gospel Evil is all around us. The sin nature of humans is influenced by self-centeredness, arrogance, and the pursuit of selfish desires. Where did original evil begin? How did it manifest and manage to find its way into our innate human nature? While the disobedience of Adam and Eve is the way the Bible gives of sin entering humanity and the world God created, there was an earlier betrayal that changed the entire course of eternity. The Bible tells us, in multiple passages, about Satan's banishment from heaven. In Revelation 12:9, John sees a vision of what occurred: "The great dragon was hurled down-that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him." Join author Scott Leone as he explores the beginnings and progression of evil-and how God's solution of the gospel is the only way to obtain victory over sin and evil.

"Cornelius Hunter brilliantly supports his thesis that Darwinism is a mixture of metaphysical dogma and biased scientific observation, that at its core, evolution is about God, not science."--Phillip E. Johnson, author, Darwin on Trial"Biophysicist Cornelius Hunter argues perceptively that the main supporting pole of the Darwinian tent has always been a theological assertion: 'God wouldn't have done it that way.' Rather than demonstrating that evolution is capable of the wonders they attribute to it, Darwinists rely on a man-made version of God to argue that He never would have made life with the particular suite of features we observe. In lucid and engaging prose, Hunter shines a light on Darwinian theology, making plain what is too often obscured by technical jargon."--Michael J. Behe, Lehigh University"This wonderfully insightful book will prove pivotal in the current reassessment of Darwinian evolution. Darwinists argue that evolution has to be true because no self-respecting deity would have created life the way we find it. Hunter unmasks this theological mode of argumentation and argues convincingly that it is not merely incidental but indeed essential to how Darwinists justify evolution."--William A. Dembski, Baylor University"A fascinating study of a much overlooked aspect of the origins controversy."--Stephen C. Meyer, Whitworth College

What is evil? Were did it come from. This is a fundamental negative aspect of the Human condition that has engaged theologians, mystics and philosophers for centuries. And more recently, psychologists. The whole evolutionary process of life entails the use of free will, in an existential sense, making mistakes, correcting such, learning, and then moving on. But evil is like taking hold of a hiking pilgrim who is just about to climb a steep hill, and filling their rucksack with rocks. Many different theories have been put forward as to where evil has come from (the Devil, the Fall, Man disobeying God, brain malfunction) but there is no universal agreement on such. The lack of agreement means that there is no universal concentration of effort to power Mankind forward onto, what should be, a faster evolutionary progression. The book explores every conceivable source of information that is know to us, with a much wider scope than most books on the subject have done in the past. All the known World religions, present and past (including so-called mythologies). Many Native spiritual belief systems. In total over sixty. The book also explores the teachings of various Western Mystical and Esoteric systems. Somewhat controversionally, it then goes on to explore the possibility of extra-terrestrial visitors to our Planet interfering with Human evolution for their own selfish ends. An examination of the development of Western Psychology over nearly three centuries has provided insights into human behaviour and the physiological workings of the brain. Conventional Society post 19th. Century has tended to develop its own set of norms as to what is evil, which sometimes feed back into a government's legislative program in respect of criminal law. The book looks at corporate evil perpetrated by governments, banks, financial institutions, the Media, religious administrative bodies, and multi-national corporations, as these are just as capable of acts of evil as any individual, although often on a vastly greater scale. Lastly the book explores the issues of morality, acts with unintended consequences, the issue of intent, and personal responsibility. Curiously, instead of the last chapter being the conclusion of all the preceding chapters, it traces out the whole history of the Cosmos from the first point of creation (spiritual "e;Big Bang"e;) right through to modern Human society on Earth. Its purpose was to examine if something untoward happened in the process of Cosmic Creation that has set up an imbalance in the functioning of the Universe, the Galaxy, the Solar System, our Planet, that has thrown Human evolution out of kilter.

What does it mean for the Christian doctrine of the Fall if there was no historical Adam? If humanity emerged from nonhuman primates--as genetic, biological, and archaeological evidence seems to suggest--then what are the implications for a Christian understanding of human origins, including the origin of sin? Evolution and the Fall gathers a multidisciplinary, ecumenical team of scholars to address these difficult questions and others like them from the perspectives of biology, theology, history, Scripture, philosophy, and politics CONTRIBUTORS: William T. Cavanaugh Celia Deane-Drummond Darrel R. Falk Joel B. Green Michael Gulker Peter Harrison J. Richard Middleton Aaron Riches James K. A. Smith Brent Waters Norman Wirzba

Whether expressed in theological or secular terms, evil poses a problem about the world's intelligibility. It confronts philosophy with fundamental questions: Can there be meaning in a world where innocents suffer? Can belief in divine power or human progress survive a cataloging of evil? Is evil profound or banal? Neiman argues that these questions impelled modern philosophy. Traditional philosophers from Leibniz to Hegel sought to defend the Creator of a world containing evil. Inevitably, their efforts--combined with those of more literary figures like Pope, Voltaire, and the Marquis de Sade--eroded belief in God's benevolence, power, and relevance, until Nietzsche claimed He had been murdered. They also yielded the distinction between natural and moral evil that we now take for granted. Neiman turns to consider philosophy's response to the Holocaust as a final moral evil, concluding that two basic stances run through modern thought. One, from Rousseau to Arendt, insists that morality demands we make evil intelligible. The other, from Voltaire to Adorno, insists that morality demands that we don't.

Volume I. The history of evil in antiquity : 2000 BCD-450 CE -- volume II. The history of evil in the medieval age : 450-1450 -- volume III. The history of evil in the early modern age : 1450-1700 -- volume IV. The history of evil in the 18th and 19th centuries : 1700-1900 -- volume V. The history of evil in the early twentieth century : 1900-1950 -- volume VI. The history of evil from the mid-twentieth century to today : 1950-2018

Thirteen original essays examine the conceptual history of evil in the west: from ancient Hebrew literature and Greek drama to Darwinism and Holocaust theory. Thirteen reflections contextualize the philosophical developments by looking at evil through the eyes of animals, poets, mystics, witches, librettists, film directors, and tech executives.

A leading cognitive scientist argues that a deep sense of good and evil is bred in the bone. From John Locke to Sigmund Freud, philosophers and psychologists have long believed that we begin life as blank moral slates. Many of us take for granted that babies are born selfish and that it is the role of society—and especially parents—to transform them from little sociopaths into civilized beings. In Just Babies, Paul Bloom argues that humans are in fact hardwired with a sense of morality. Drawing on groundbreaking research at Yale, Bloom demonstrates that, even before they can speak or walk, babies judge the goodness and badness of others’ actions; feel empathy and compassion; act to soothe those in distress; and have a rudimentary sense of justice. Still, this innate morality is limited, sometimes tragically. We are naturally hostile to strangers, prone to parochialism and bigotry. Bringing together insights from psychology, behavioral economics, evolutionary biology, and philosophy, Bloom explores how we have come to surpass these limitations. Along the way, he examines the morality of chimpanzees, violent psychopaths, religious extremists, and Ivy League professors, and explores our often puzzling moral feelings about sex, politics, religion, and race. In his analysis of the morality of children and adults, Bloom rejects the fashionable view that our moral decisions are driven mainly by gut feelings and unconscious biases. Just as reason has driven our great scientific discoveries, he argues, it is reason and deliberation that makes possible our moral discoveries, such as the wrongness of slavery. Ultimately, it is through our imagination, our compassion, and our uniquely human capacity for rational thought that we can transcend the primitive sense of morality we were born with, becoming more than just babies. Paul Bloom has a gift for bringing abstract ideas to life, moving seamlessly from Darwin, Herodotus, and Adam Smith to The Princess Bride, Hannibal Lecter, and Louis C.K. Vivid, witty, and intellectually probing, Just Babies offers a radical new perspective on our moral lives.

Excerpt from The History of the Devil and the Idea of Evil: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day His world OF ours is a world of opposites. There is light and shade, there is heat and cold, there is good and evil, there is God and the Devil. The dualistic conception of nature has been a neces sary phase in the evolution of human thought. We find the same views of good and evil spirits prevailing among all the peoples of the earth at the very beginning of that stage of their development which, in the phraseology of Tylor, is commonly called Animism. But the principle of unity dominates the development of thought. Man tries to unify his conceptions in a consistent and barmo nions Monism. Accordingly, while the belief in good spirits tended towards the formation Of the doctrine of Monotheism, the belief in evil spirits led naturally to the acceptance of a single supreme evil deity, conceived as embodying all that is bad, destructive, and immoral. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.