This book addresses the challenging and old question of theodicy: If God is infinitely good, how can there be so much pain and suffering in this world? The special emphasis of the articles is on an interdisciplinary approach to this question, taking into account perspectives not only from theology and philosophy, but also from evolutionary theory, biology, medicine, anthropology, cognitive science, and many other related fields. This allowed our thirteen (13) authors to reflect on the intertwining of fundamental concepts such as evolution, nature, suffering, pain, values, evil, and good.

Dancing in the Dark is the title of a 1930s love song that has a philosophical edge, and in its own way encapsulates the central problem, What is life about? Can we possibly come to terms with life's vicissitudes, and can these be understood within a religious framework? The problem of theodicy is the most intractable issue in the philosophy of religion. It calls into question the vexed supplementary problems of revelation, free will, and determinism. Indeed, for would-be believers, it undermines the very rationality of their existence. Consequently, it has been the subject of interminable debate without any completely satisfactory solution.

In this long-awaited book, pre-eminent analytical philosopher Alvin Plantinga argues that the conflict between science and theistic religion is actually superficial, and that at a deeper level they are in concord.

Animal suffering constitutes perhaps the greatest challenge to rational belief in the existence of God. Considerations that render human suffering theologically intelligible seem inapplicable to animal suffering. In this book, Dougherty defends radical possibilities for animal afterlife that allow a soul-making theodicy to apply to their case.

"Claudia Weltz explores responses to the problem of evil that do not end up in a theodicy. Kierkegaard's and Rosenzweig's reasons for having no reason to defend God and their ethics of love are discussed in the context of German idealism and French phenomenology."--BOOK JACKET.

First published in 1984 and recently revised and updated, this book deals with the problem of evil, or theodicy (God's justice). It contends that the process of evolution, particularly as it bears on the emergence of free will, rather than being a barrier to faith, gives us the key to understanding its greatest obstacle - the existence of so much suffering in the world. It further advances the still contested claim that God is truly our fellow sufferer in our struggle to overcome evil in all of its many forms.