Friday, June 19, 2009

Book Review of "The Problem of Evil" By Peter Van Inwagen

Paul Raynor, a recent graduate from Denver Seminary with an MA in Philosophy of Religion, has reviewed Peter Van Inwagen's book, The Problem of Evil at Denver Journal.

5 comments:

Paul D. Adams said...

Thanks for this. I was not aware of this release from Van Inwagen.

Unknown said...

Well, for a different perspective on Theology and the faustian notion, you can try my novel, "A Diary of Wasted Years," just published by Eloquent Books. Comes to grab you by the throat but definitely worth it. I welcome any potential reader to check it out, and I'd love to hear your opinion on the subject. Hopefully you'll enjoy it, because it's really not what it seems at first glance. Even if not, you can always share your comments.
Thanks.

Ben said...

I like Van Iwangen's book, but I took him to endorse a sort of open theism that I could not accept. He did do a great job of "telling a story" that was plausible and consistent with contemporary evolutionary thought which would serve to raise reasonable doubt against arguments from evil--although I do not embrace evolutionary biology as Van Iwagen seems to endorse. But I agree that his use of the concept of vagueness is well deployed to diffuse the outrage over horrendous evils (with respect to volume or degree).


Ben Kimmell
Graduate Student
Department of Philosophy
Florida State University

www.icantthinkofablogname.blogspot.com

Ben said...

I enjoyed Van Inwagen's book, although I do not share his open theism. But he did a great job of "telling a story" which was consistent with contemporary evolutionary thought; despite the fact that I have more reservations about evolution than Van Inwagen seems to.

But he skillfully deployed the concept of vagueness to diffuse arguments from evil (whether the local or global variety which deals with specific instances and the amount of evil. Horrendous or gratuitous evil falls under this rubric.)

It seems to me that no matter what scope of suffering human beings encountered, from our perspective, there would always be horrendous evil and suffering, and therefore some critics would always regard evil and suffering morally reprehensible for an Anselmian Being.


Ben Kimmell
Graduate Student
Department of Philosophy
Florida State University
www.icantthinkofablogname.blogspot.com

Daniel said...

Great review and great looking book!