A CRITIQUE OF JOHN HICK’S TAKE ON THE PROBLEM OF EVIL

This project provides a critical examination of John Hick’s theory of evil, as presented in his seminal work “evil and the God of love”. Hick theory which posit that evil is a necessary component of soul- making, is analyze in the context of the philosophical and theological debates surrounding the problem of evil. John Hick has written extensively concerning the problem of evil. His writing on the problem are set within two general restraints. First he holds constant the conception of God as omnipotent and perfectly good. Hick does not pursue the question of whether the facts about evil necessitate some drastic revision of our conception of God. Secondly Hick distinguishes the question of whether the existence of God is logically consistent with the fact about evil from the questions of whether the facts about evil render belief in God unreasonable or irrational. It is the second of these questions that is the focus of john Hick attention. Some philosophers’ holds that the fact about evil does not provide
any rational grounds or evidence for disbelief in God