Are there any good, universally-applying theodicies?

[Hatikvah]

A theodicy is a paper concerning G-d and His relation to evil, in a basic description.

I’m not struggling with my faith very much anymore, luckily; but I am quite curious about it all, and I would certainly like to understand as much as I could (but this can be a complicated business???).

Thanks!

 

[claymcdermott]

Well, the only universally applicable perfect theodicy (as somebody…Merton(?) said) is karma. The belief that everything bad that happens was deserved for something done in this life or a past life.

Now, obviously, that isn’t Biblical for a few reasons.

However, if you are looking for a good book on the subject, might I recommend C.S. Lewis’ “The Problem of Pain,” assuming you have not read it already and have not moved past its level. It’s short (one day, probably less of reading), lucid, widely available and powerful.

If you are beyond the lay level, and want something more rigorous, there’s Augustine and Aquinas and Maimonides and Kierkegaard and so on, but that’s a lot of reading haha.