Why Richard Swinburne Won’t ‘Rot in Hell’: A Defense of Tough-minded Theodicy

In his recent paper in Sophia, ‘Theodicy: The Solution to the Problem of Evil, or Part of the Problem?’ Nick Trakakis endorses the position that theodicy, whether intellectually successful or not, is a morally obnoxious enterprise. My aim in this paper is to defend theodicy from this accusation. I c...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Forrest, Peter (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer Netherlands 2010
In: Sophia
Year: 2010, Volume: 49, Issue: 1, Pages: 37-47
Further subjects:B Anti-theodicy
B Best explanation apologetics
B Incommensurability
B Theodicy
B Utilitarianism
B moral community
B Hubris
B Horrendous evils
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:In his recent paper in Sophia, ‘Theodicy: The Solution to the Problem of Evil, or Part of the Problem?’ Nick Trakakis endorses the position that theodicy, whether intellectually successful or not, is a morally obnoxious enterprise. My aim in this paper is to defend theodicy from this accusation. I concede that God the Creator is a moral monster by human standards and neither to be likened to a loving parent nor imitated. Nonetheless, God is morally perfect. What is abhorrent is not tough-minded theodicy but the hubris of imitating God. I further claim that it is no accident that the same sort of objection is made to act utilitarianism as to tough-minded theodicy if the latter is misinterpreted as implying a guide for human action.
ISSN:1873-930X
Contains:Enthalten in: Sophia
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s11841-009-0157-9