Customer Reviews

God and the Problem of Evil (Blackwell Readings in Philosophy)

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William Rowe has made significant contributions to the field of philosophy of religion. His work on the evidential problem of evil has been stimulating and fair. This collection of essays is no different. Rowe does a fine job of bringing together a variety of perspectives on the problem of evil. Section 1 offers a historical framework for the discussion. Section 2 examines the logical problem of evil. Sections 3 and 4 are the high lights in my mind because most of the contemporary debates are taking place on the issues covered here. Section 3 covers the evidential argument from evil and section 4 presents several of the major strands of theodicy.

I wish to make one further comment on section 3. This is where a majority of the debates are taking place. Surprisingly, the logical problem of evil has been widely agreed upon to be of little difficulty for theistic belief. As such the focus in the contemporary scene has been on whether or not evil provides evidence against theistic belief. Does the existence of evil make theistic belief less likely than atheism? This section contains a great back and forth between Rowe arguing against theism, and Mike Bergmann and Daniel Howard-Snyder critiquing Rowe's argument.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the problem of evil or in philosophy of religion.

This is a good philosophy book although I disagree with much of the content and thoughts by Rowe. If you are advocate of Rowe than you will appreciate his scholarly work. If you are a Christian theist than be prepared to have a great argument.