BiblioFiles Episode #30: Theodicy, or Justifying the Ways of God to Men
Who is God? What is He like if He exists? And if He is good and all-powerful, why does he allow evil in His creation? The great authors have been asking these questions, searching for purpose and order in the world, just as often as they have pondered the identity and nature of man. In the literary world, a work that takes up this search is called a "theodicy." Atheists as well as authors from all kinds of religious backgrounds have taken up this project, so in this episode we sit down and try to define the term as well as look through the various angles from which it has been approached.
Works Referenced:
–The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
–Orbiting Jupiter by Gary Schmidt
–At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald
–The Heart of the Matter by Graham Green
–That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis
–Paradise Lost by John Milton
–Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
–Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
–The Door in the Way by Marguerite de Angeli
–Moby Dick by Herman Melville
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