Problem of Evil

The Problem of Evil by Fr M C D’Arcy SJ
CTS Explanations Series

This is a reprint of a booklet written in 1935, and it is written in a style that reflects the period. It is rather elaborate and formal in its language and approach, but if one persists in reading it despite that, it certainly repays the effort.

Fr D’Arcy starts by defining what the Problem of Evil is, from a Catholic perspective, and also what it is not. The question, as Fr D’Arcy states it, is this: Why does God permit suffering, mental and physical, and the moral evil of sin in this world, which He has created and governs? Fr D’Arcy also makes it clear that the problem is not a choice between believing in God or believing in evil, although it is sometimes stated in those terms.

The second chapter addresses some of the wrong answers that have been generated to answer the problem of evil. He points out that pessimism, for example, is more a mood than a philosophy, and that any attempt at an answer which places a limit on God simply fails to address the problem. We know that God is infinite in his goodness and his power – that is part of the problem: why an infinitely good, just and powerful God allows suffering and sin.

Fr D’Arcy starts to address the question by considering God’s Justice and Goodness, and demonstrating by logic that these are not compromised by the existence of evil. Our freedom makes us able to choose wrongly, and God does not always interfere miraculously to prevent harm or the whole order of the world would be overturned.

Fr D’Arcy also points out how suffering may develop us and indeed bring out the best in us; ‘that suffering which produces the kind of character we admire and love is…most precious.’ He concludes that it is only suffering that is loveless and meaningless which makes us question God. And as we cannot expect to see the full and final meaning of our experiences on this side of the grave, we can never conclude that suffering is meaningless.

But the fuller answer is found in the very meaning of Creation, and in the revelation of Christ, who teaches us that God is our Father, and that He is our suffering Redeemer. Finally, Fr. D’Arcy concludes, it is an excess of God’s love which allowed this world, complete with sin and suffering, to exist: ‘this pathetically weak world has, at any rate, this glory, that it has served to manifest the infinite resources of divine love.’

This is a densely written and tightly argued booklet, which is not as easy to read as most CTS Publications. However, as Professor Haldane writes in the Foreword, it is worth reading once quickly, to get the main points, and then re-reading slowly, to meditate on.