A brief introduction to my new book, Confronting Evil: Theodicy in the Eastern Patristic Tradition

A new book on the Problem of Evil from the Eastern Orthodox Patristic tradition.

Developed from a course on theodicy at the Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts, for their Pappas Patristic Program, this work presents the writings of the Church Fathers for the general academic reader, interested laity, and clergy alike.

Theodicy is the theological explanation for why evil exists in the world. This new study on theodicy reveals that, while people experience “evil” as Epicureans (that is, fearing pain, loss, and discomfort, and desiring only for their alleviation, if not lives of pleasure), God instead values virtue and moral uprightness as the “good” to be pursued by all. Thus, the problem of evil is, in actuality, a tension between worldly sensibilities and divine perspectives on the true destiny of humankind. The challenge for the theologian is to bridge these two “worlds” and bring reconciliation and healing for loss and trauma through religion. This book reveals how this can be accomplished, both in terms for pastoral counseling, as well as with respect to academic questions in epistemology, ontology, and cosmology.