Stephen Law

Aaron has left a new comment on " Augustine on evil ". It's below. Let's discuss. Augustine calls evil the “privation of a good” (Confessions Book 3 Chapter 7). Good and evil are similar to light and darkness. Darkness isn’t a “thing” but the absence of light. You appeal to science as revealing false the belief that we descended from Adam and Eve. You are entitled to this bare assertion but it is ironic that you turn around and talk about the evil of millions of years of animal suffering. What’s evil about animal suffering from the scientific standpoint? Isn’t it ultimately indifferent? As you have indicated, Christians have a framework (whether or not you agree with it) for understanding what is good and what is evil. What is your framework for believing in good and evil? Ravi Zacharias helpfully explains, “Some time ago I was speaking at a university in England, when a rather exasperated person in the audience made his attack upon God. "There cannot possibly b...

Here is a draft chapter I am working on. All feedback gratefully received. AUGUSTINE QUOTE: … were it not good that evil things should also exist, the omnipotent God would almost certainly not allow evil to be… Although Augustine was born and died in Hippo, North Africa, he spent much of his life travelling around the Mediterranean world. Augustine wrote, in effect, the first autobiography – his Confessions – detailing the development of his thinking. Augustine’s confessions are entertaining and frank, and include details of his sexual adventures. Augustine apparently used to pray “Lord make me chaste, but not yet.” Augustine’s main philosophical achievement was to take the philosophy of Plato (chpt XX) and Plotinus (chpt XX) on the one hand, and the Christian belief system on the other, and marry the two together. The marriage is not quite one of equals – while Augustine thinks philosophy important, its role is secondary to religious revelation. Where philosophy fails to fit with Chri...