Satan and the Problem of Evil
Description
- Where does evil come from?
- If there is a sovereign creator God, as Christian faith holds, is this God ultimately responsible for evil?
- Does God's sovereignty mean that God causes each instance of sin and suffering?
- How do Satan, his demons and hell fit into God's providential oversight of all creation and history?
- How does God interact with human intention and action?
- If people act freely, does God know in particular every human decision beforethe choice is made?
In this important book Gregory A. Boyd mounts a thorough response to these ages-old questions, which remain both crucial and contentious, both practical and complex.
In this work Boyd defends his scripturally grounded trinitarian warfare theodicy (presented in God at War) with rigorous philosophical reflection and insights from human experience and scientific discovery. Critiquing the classical Calvinist solution to the problem of evil, he advocates an alternative understanding of the sovereignty of the trinitarian God and of the reality of Satan that sheds light on our fallen human condition.
While all may not agree with Boyd's conclusions, Satan and the Problem of Evil promises to advance the church's discussion of these critical issues.
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Person
Gregory A. Boyd (Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary) is a pastor at Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Previously, he was a professor of theology at Bethel University, also in St. Paul. His books include Recovering the Real Jesusin an Age of Revisionist Replies, Letters from a Skeptic, God of the Possible, Repenting of Religion, Seeing is Believing, Escaping the Matrix, The Jesus Legend, Myth of a Christian Nation,Is God to Blame, God at War and Satan and the Problem of Evil.
Content
Abbreviations Introduction Part I 1. The World at War: The Warfare Worldview of the Bible the Early Church 2. The Free Fall: Free Will the Origin of Evil 3. A Risky Creation: Divine Foreknowledge the Trinitarian Warfare Worldview 4. A Question of Balance: Issues Surrounding the Foreknowledge of God the Openness of the Future 5. Love and War: Risk the Sovereignty of God 6. No Turning Back: The Irrevocability the Finitude of Freedom Part 2 7. Praying in the Whirlwind: Miracles, Prayer the Arbitrariness of Life 8. "Red in Tooth and Claw": Perspectives on the Origin of Natural Evil, Part 1 9. When Nature Becomes a Weapon: Perspectives on the Origin of Natural Evil, Part 2 10. This an Enemy Has Done: "Natural" Evil the Trinitarian Warfare Theodicy 11. A Clash of Doctrines: Eternal Suffering Annihilationism 12. A Separate Reality: Hell, das Nichtige the Victory of God Appendix 1: Remaining Objections Appendix 2: Four Philosophical Arguments for the Incompatibility of EDF Self-Determining Free Will Appendix 3: On Incomplete Probationary Periods Appendix 4: A Theology of Chance Appendix 5: Explanations of Texts Used to Support Compatibilism Glossary Bibliography Author/Subject Index Scripture Index
