Chasing the Wind: Philosophy, the Bible, and the Problem of Evil

This series of talks explores what is sometimes called the Problem of Evil – the argument that, given our experience of evil, it is unreasonable to believe in God – by combining insights from the Bible and modern Christian philosophy.

The first session explains what the Problem of Evil is and discusses the limitations of one popular response to the Problem: the ‘Free Will Defence’. The next two sessions then explore and critically examine three further responses given by Christian philosophers, by considering various readings of the Book of Job. The last two sessions develop a more satisfactory response to the Problem, which philosopher Vince Vitale calls the ‘Non-Identity Theodicy’: this draws on the Biblical understanding of God’s love for humans to show that our experience of evil is not inconsistent with the existence of the God in whom Christians place their trust.