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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