A Theodicy for a Suffering World with a Hidden God

Book excerpt: If God exists, why is there so much pain and suffering, and why isn’t his existence more obvious? In A Theodicy for a Suffering World with a Hidden God, Philip Pegan develops a theodicy in answer to these questions. This theodicy is consistent with theological determinism—the belief that everything that happens is determined by the will of God—and with the possibility that human beings are entirely physical in nature. It affirms all creatures capable of suffering will eventually enjoy a life of eternal happiness, demonstrating the plausibility of the notion that if God allows suffering in a creature, there is an outweighing good He can bring about in the creature’s life only if He allows for such suffering. Pegan’s theodicy is compatible with the claim that the world is unsurpassably good. It assumes value realism, but could be revised without fundamentally altering the framework or main substance of the theodicy, while assuming value antirealism