Swinburne response to the problem of evil book

God and the problem of evil with john lennox duration. Scripture acknowledges the problem of evil many of the bibles 66 individual books openly express what we would now term the problem of evil. In book viii, chapter vii, of the confessions, augustine describes. He aroused much discussion with his early work in the philosophy of religion, a trilogy of books consisting of the coherence of theism, the existence of. Providence and the problem of evil oxford scholarship. Like swinburnes other books, providence and the problem of evil is clearly. Books with blue titles are linked to oxford scholarship online where there is an.

The problem, in short, is that any axiological formulation of the argument from evil, as it stands, is incomplete in a crucial respect, since it fails to make explicit how a failure to bring about good states of affairs, or a failure to prevent bad states of affairs, entails that one is acting in a morally wrong way. Over the last 50 years swinburne has been an influential proponent of philosophical arguments for the existence of god. In providence and the problem of evil, richard swinburne, one of this centurys best christian apologists, finally gives us a fulllength treatment of evil. This book offers an answer to one of the most difficult problems of religious belief. Ive read on the problem of evil quite a bit, and usually you will find the same argument. Swinburnes recently published solution to the problem of evil involves in effect an. The problem of evil stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Problem of evil, the problem of reconciling the existence of evil with the.

Richard swinburne, providence and the problem of evil jstor. He is an emeritus professor of philosophy at the university of oxford. Problem of evil responses introduction to philosophy. Swinburne presents us with an explanation of evil that focuses not just on our free will, but on the importance of mutual responsibility as a prerequisite of free will. Responses to the problem of evil have occasionally been classified as. Another argument, developed by the english philosopher richard swinburne, is that. Richard granville swinburne is a british philosopher. Problem of evil responses responses to the problem of evil have occasionally been classified as defences or theodicies. Swinburne makes 35 arguments in this book that are quite simply novel.

Swinburnes aim is to respond to the problem of evil by constructing a theodicy, an explanation of why god would allow. Thus peter van inwagen, throughout his book the problem of evil. Unless he has very strong reason for supposing that there is a god, a theist needs a theodicy or at least needs. In some cases, these expressions are all but a direct accusation against god, in response to the suffering the writers had seen or experienced. Providence and the problem of evil by richard swinburne. An allpowerful being would be ableto prevent evil from happening in the world. In this video, i discuss richard swinburne s interesting argument from a need for knowledge which claims that the need for knowledge of the consequences of o. Richard swinburne maintains that it does not make sense to assume there are. An allgood being would wantto prevent evil from happening in the world. Providence and the problem of evil, oxford university press, 1998. What is the biblical solution to the problem of evil. His philosophical contributions are primarily in the philosophy of religion and philosophy of science. The pascal lectures on christianity and the university 12,900 views 1.