The Problem of Evil: OCR A-Level RS Revision

An explanation of the problem of evil, including logical and evidential challenges, key responses, and religious solutions to suffering.

This topic examines the challenge that evil and suffering pose to belief in an all-powerful, all-loving God. Students explore classical formulations of the problem, religious responses, and philosophical debates surrounding the compatibility of God and evil.

1. The Nature of Evil

• Definitions of moral evil (caused by human actions)
• Natural evil (suffering caused by natural events such as earthquakes or disease)
• The problem of evil as a challenge to belief in a benevolent, omnipotent God

1. The Logical Problem of Evil

• Mackie’s Inconsident Triad
• The apparent contradiction between:
• God’s omnipotence
• God’s omnibenevolence
• The existence of evil
• The claim that the traditional concept of God is logically inconsistent

1. The Evidential Problem of Evil

• Focuses on the amount and intensity of suffering in the world
• Argues that the scale of suffering makes God’s existence unlikely
• Examples of seemingly pointless or gratuitous suffering

1. Augustine’s Theodicy

• Evil as privation of good, not a substance
• Creation was originally perfect
• Moral evil arises from human free will
• Natural evil as a consequence of the Fall
• God remains omnibenevolent and omnipotent

Criticisms:

• Challenges from science (evolution, natural disasters)
• The justice of inherited sin
• Compatibility with modern views of the world

1. Irenaean ( and Hick’s) Theodicy

• Evil as necessary for soul-making
• Humanity created imperfect and develops morally
  -The role of suffering in spiritual growth
• Epistemic distance allows genuine freedom

Criticisms:

• Excessive or pointless suffering
• The suffering of children and animals
• Questions about proportionality

1. The Free Will Defence

• Developed from Augustine and modern thinkers (e.g. Plantinga)
• Moral evil as the result of genuine free choice
• God cannot create free beings who always choose good
• Natural evil as a consequence of free non-human agents or a stable world

1. Evaluation and Debate

• Whether evil disproves the existence of God
• The success of theodicies in defending divine attributes
• The emotional vs logical impact of evil
• Is suffering compatible with a loving God?

Essay questions and guidance in answering