Encountering Evil

Evil has been termed ‘the biggest problem confronting religious faith’. For the thinking religious Jew, as for many adherents of other major world faiths, the problem of evil, broadly stated, is how evil is possible in a world created by an omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good God. The aim of this book is to provide a full-length treatment of the problem from the twin perspectives of contemporary analytic philosophy of religion and Jewish sources, blending the two and bringing them into conversation. In doing so, the book endeavours to be non-technical and accessible to non-specialists, yet philosophically robust and cognizant of the range of contemporary philosophical strategies for addressing the problem of evil. Drawing on key texts and ideas from both the Jewish and philosophical literatures, the central goal is to develop an approach that is philosophically plausible while simultaneously grounded in the Jewish tradition. Indeed, the book shows how Jewish and contemporary philosophical positions can shed light on each other, enriching both religious understanding and the overall philosophical discussion.