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Title: The Puzzle of Evil by Peter Vardy ISBN: 0-7656-0168-0 Publisher: M.E.Sharpe Pub. Date: April, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.95

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (2 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Journey to the Dark Side
Comment: Are you ready for a challenging journey? This journey
is challenging because the reader is confronted with
a number of some of the most difficult questions that philosphers
and theologians have grappled with over the millenia.
Is there a God? What is 'his' nature? Is he able
to prevent evil? Is he unwilling to prevent evil? What
is evil and why does it exist? Finally, what should our response
to evil be?
This journey takes us through an amazing land. The
land is not a physical one, however. It is a journey through
the land of great ideas. The reader is presented with some
of the ideas, thoughts, and arguments of great men and minds
throughout history. The reader is introduced to Job, Socrates,
Jesus, Augustine, Aquinas, Ritschl, John Scotus Eurigena, Hume,
Kant, CS Lewis, Dostoyevski, and Tolstoy.
The author Peter Vardy divides the issue in two.
First evil is presented as a problem, relying on an assumption
which he admits can not be proved, namely the existence of
a loving God. How can a loving all powerful God permit evil
to exist? The second half of the book deals with evil as
a mystery. Perhaps the greatest weakness of the book is
the contradiction which the author does not resolve, at least
not for me, between faith and reason. Vardy calls his faith
that God exists, a 'value judgement'. He not only poses the
existence of God, but also maintains the idea of the Trinity,
judgement after death (or an eternal hell) and the idea that
all have the free choice to respond to God by developing a
relationship to God. He further asserts that such a relationship
is what might be called 'carrying the cross'; that is to
say that the Christian journey is not an easy one but a
difficult and unpopular one. It is one that most in the
Christian community fail to make.
Does the problem of evil have a solution? That is not
a question which is central to the theme of the book, except
in so far as the solution involves a relationship with God.
Vardy makes clear that Christianity is more about faith
than about reason, and in my opinion, fails to make a case
for going 'beyond reason' to faith. Nevertheless, I am
impressed by his ability to use reason as much as he can,
and his ability to look at many issues
in a very objective way, some of the time. He points out
that "once one abandons the law of non-contradiction, one
lapses into nonsense" (p 110). Vardy never lapses into
nonsense himself, but he does get into some very subjective
territory and seems to emphasize belief in things that
can not, he admits, be proved. For him reason is a starting
point and much of of what he states is his belief in
things which he accepts on 'faith'.
He explores an interesting variety of approaches
and issues, looking at the problem of evil from a fair
number of angles. He left me with a sense that all the
general ways to look at the problem had been covered.
He leaves, as it were, no major stone unturned, and
in the examination of each question looks deeply enough
to anticipate different objections. Whether or not
one agrees with any of the final conclusions which the
author makes, the author presents a lot of valuable
information. Furthermore, the book is quite stimulating
and thought provoking and certainly leaves the reader
free to draw his or her own conclusions.
Keeping all these positives of the book in mind,
it is one that I would highly recommend.

Rating: 5
Summary: A journey to the Dark Side
Comment: Are you ready for a challenging journey? This journey
is challenging because the reader is confronted with
a number of some of the most difficult questions that philosphers
and theologians have grappled with over the millenia.
Is there a God? What is 'his' nature? Is he able
to prevent evil? Is he unwilling to prevent evil? What
is evil and why does it exist? Finally, what should our response
to evil be?
This journey takes us through an amazing land. The
land is not a physical one, however. It is a journey through
the land of great ideas. The reader is presented with some
of the ideas, thoughts, and arguments of great men and minds
throughout history. The reader is introduced to Job, Socrates,
Jesus, Augustine, Aquinas, Ritschl, John Scotus Eurigena, Hume,
Kant, CS Lewis, Dostoyevski, and Tolstoy.
The author Peter Vardy divides the issue in two.
First evil is presented as a problem, relying on an assumption
which he admits can not be proved, namely the existence of
a loving God. How can a loving all powerful God permit evil
to exist? The second half of the book deals with evil as
a mystery. Perhaps the greatest weakness of the book is
the contradiction which the author does not resolve, at least
not for me, between faith and reason. Vardy calls his faith
that God exists, a 'value judgement'. He not only poses the
existence of God, but also maintains the idea of the Trinity,
judgement after death (or an eternal hell) and the idea that
all have the free choice to respond to God by developing a
relationship to God. He further asserts that such a relationship
is what might be called 'carrying the cross'; that is to
say that the Christian journey is not an easy one but a
difficult and unpopular one. It is one that most in the
Christian community fail to make.
Does the problem of evil have a solution? That is not
a question which is central to the theme of the book, except
in so far as the solution involves a relationship with God.
Vardy makes clear that Christianity is more about faith
than about reason, and in my opinion, fails to make a case
for going 'beyond reason' to faith. Nevertheless, I am
impressed by his ability to use reason as much as he can,
and his ability to look at many issues
in a very objective way, much of the time. He points out
that "once one abandons the law of non-contradiction, one
lapses into nonsense" (p 110). Vardy never lapses into
nonsense himself, but he does get into some very subjective
territory and seems to emphasize belief in things that
can not, he admits, be proved. For him reason is a starting
point and much of of what he states is his belief in
things which he accepts on 'faith'.
He explores an interesting variety of approaches
and issues, looking at the problem of evil from a fair
number of angles. He left me with a sense that all the
general ways to look at the problem had been covered.
He leaves, as it were, no major stone unturned, and
in the examination of each question looks deeply enough
to anticipate different objections. Whether or not
one agrees with any of the final conclusions which the
author makes, the author presents a lot of valuable
information. Furthermore, the book is quite stimulating
and thought provoking and certainly leaves the reader
free to draw his or her own conclusions.
Keeping all these positives of the book in mind,
it is one that I would highly recommend.