Problem of Evil in the Western Tradition: From the Book of Job to Modern Genetics

by Joseph F. Kelly

The question of evil presents a profound challenge to humanity—why do we do what we know to be wrong? This is especially a challenge to religious believers. Why doesn't an all-good and omnipotent God step in and put an end to evil?  The Problem of Evil in the Western Tradition  examines how Western thinkers have dealt with the problem of evil, starting in ancient Israel and tracing the question through post-biblical Judaism, Early Christianity (especially in Africa), the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and to the twenty-first century when science has raised new and important issues. Joseph Kelly covers the book of Job, the book of Revelation, Augustine of Hippo, Aquinas, Luther, Marlow, Milton, Voltaire, Hume, Mary Shelley, Darwin, Jung, Flannery O'Connor, Karl Rahner, Teilhard de Chardin, and modern geneticists. Chapters are "Some Perspectives on Evil," "Israel and Evil," "The New Adam," "Out of Africa," "The Broken Cosmos," "The Middle Ages," "Decline and Reform of Humanism," "The Devil's Last Stand," "Rationalizing Evil," "The Attack on Christianity," "Dissident Voices," "Human Evil in the Nineteenth Century," "Science, Evil, and Original Sin," "Modern Literary Approaches to Evil," "Some Scientific Theories of Evil," and "Modern Religious Approaches to Evil." Joseph F. Kelly, Ph.D., is professor of religious studies at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. He is the author of  The World of the Early Christians,  published by The Liturgical Press.

Genres: Philosophy, Theology

253 pages, Paperback

First published June 27, 2002

About the author

Joseph F. Kelly, PhD, is professor of religious studies at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. His books include The Feast of Christmas, The Origins of Christmas, The Ecumenical Councils of the Catholic Church, and others, all published by Liturgical Press.

Reviews

[Alex Daniel]

A short look at depictions and retellings of evil, looking as far back as the Babylonians. The book doesn't get bogged down too often, constantly moving closer and closer to the present. For that reason, I had a tough time putting down THE PROBLEM OF EVIL, even though it's more of a scholarly work than your typical popular science non-fiction. Highlights included looking at specific books of the Bible, including when they were originally written, to talk about the evolution of evil in western thought.

The afterword reveals that the author is a devout Christian, which I found to be quite interesting given how dispassionately (in a good way) he handles the preceding.

[Ed Wojniak]

Kelly provides a comprehensive analysis of theories of evil, crossing great expanses of time, thought, and approaches. Nonetheless, the explanation of its existence together with the presumed existence of God is the quintessential Gordian knot.

[Dillon Shipley]

author wrote this WHOLE BOOK to say “idk” at the end, nice overview but the last chalter was 10x more valuable than the rest