God and Evil: An Introduction to the Issues

Rating:
Summary: Excellent introduction to subject
Review: The book is short only 134 pages but in its brief compass it provides an excellent introduction to the Problem of Evil.

The book argues very effectively that the nature and extent of Evil does not provide sufficient evidence to conclude that the God of traditional theism (good, all-knowing, and all-powerful) does not exist.

A course on Philosophy of Religion should probably balance the course with a book that argues more negatively.

The chapters are

1 The Problem of Evil and It Place in Philosopy of Religion 2 The Logical Problem of Evil 3 The Function of Defense 4 The Probabistic Problem of Evil 5 The Problem of Gratuitous Evil 6 The Task Of Theodicy 7 The Existential Problem of Evil

Amongst the philosophers discussed are Hume, Mackie, Plantinga, Flew, George Schlesinger, Walter Kaufmann, Paul Draper, Augustine, Hick, and Whitehead.