Guest Lecture – Sharon Coggan: The Problem of Evil

Please join us as we welcome Sharon Coggan, Retired UCD Religious Studies Professor, as our guest lecturer as she speaks on the topic of Religions’ Answers to the Problem of Evil And the Philosophers’ Responses. Doors open at 5:30 with the talk to begin at 6:00, followed by Q&A. Feel free to bring your own dinner or something to share, and wine or beer if you would like to enjoy an adult beverage. Soda, Water and Concessions will be available for purchase.

This talk will face head on the great "problem of evil." As formulated in philosophical parlance: if the deity is understood as perfect, as omnibenevolent, that is, entirely, perfectly good, as he is in Christianity for example, then why is there any evil? How can a perfect entity ever create imperfection? Why would an absolutely benevolent God cause or allow the innocent to suffer? If God could stop all suffering of the innocent and yet doesn’t, is he really just, that becomes the ultimate question. We will examine this key issue, present the classical formulation of the problem, the traditional solutions offered by various religious systems, and then the classical philosophical critiques of each answer. Each religion deals with the question of suffering, and each views it differently. But philosophers, that is, critical thinkers, can easily demolish all the various “theodicies” religions put forward to insist that God is just. There are many different ways that religions of the world have imagined “God.” If they don’t posit that God is perfect, then the problem virtually disappears. We will examine these various ways of imagining God in the course of religions grappling with this most difficult issue and the solutions and implications of those potential answers.
Here is an extended reading list if people are interested:
William Cenkner, Ed., Evil and the Response of World Religions. St. Paul: Paragon, 1997.
*Marilyn M. Adams, and Robert M. Adams, The Problem of Evil. N.Y.: Oxford, 1996.
Yeager Hudson, The Philosophy of Religion. Mt. View, CA.: Mayfield, 1991.
*William L. Rowe, and William J. Wainwright, Philosophy of Religion, Selected Readings. 3rd Ed., N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace College, 1998.
*Alvin Plantinga, God, Freedom and Evil. Grand Rapids, MI.: Eerdmans Press, 1996.
*Anthony Flew, God, Freedom and Immortality. NY.: Prometheus, 1989.
*David O'Connor, God, and Inscrutible Evil. N.Y.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1998.
*Carl G. Jung, Answer To Job, in The Portable Jung. N.Y.: Penguin Books, 1977.