God and Evil: An Inquiry

God and Evil: An Inquiry

If God is indeed omniscient and omnipotent, would it not then be within God’s power to properly eliminate every evil state of affairs?

Josiah Jordan | Brown & RISD Cornerstone | Spring 2019

Can a Scientist Believe in Miracles?: Interview with MIT Professor Ian Hutchinson

"In fact, a good case can be made that Christian theology, or Judeo-Christian understanding of creation coming from the Bible, was the very fertile philosophical and theological environment in which science found its birth."

Allen Lai | The Harvard Ichthus | Spring 2019

God-talk and the Suffering of the Guilty

They have committed crimes most would see as purely evil and are responsible for the most severe moments of suffering in many people’s lives. Yet I hold that they, too, are sufferers.

Noah Black | Vanderbilt Synesis | Fall 2018

Hope

If good and evil intrinsically oppose each other, how can they coexist in the presence of an omnipotent and omniscient God?

Noelle Michael | Vanderbilt Synesis | Fall 2018

White as Snow: A Comparison of Two Prayers of Repentance

By examining two famous prayers of repentance, that of the fictional King Claudius in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and that of the historical King David in Psalm 51, I hope to shed light on what repentance is and what it is not.

Paul Jeon | The Dartmouth Apologia | Spring 2018

A Clash in the Cosmos: Reflections on Madeleine L’Engle’s Classic Novel

A Wrinkle in Time might open with an ominous dark and stormy night, but the novel goes on to triumphantly remind us that love and light will ultimately prevail.

Naomi Kim | The Brown & RISD Cornerstone | Spring 2018

Justice in Pain, Suffering, and Silence

Throughout Martin Scorsese's Silence, we begin to question why God allows pain for even those seeking to work for God or in the very least let us hear His voice instead of just silence.

Bryan Lee | The Columbia Crown & Cross | Spring 2018

An Interview with Jonathan Moo

"I think the reason Christians care for creation can be summarized by loving God and loving our neighbor, and in the process discovering who we were created to be."

Siobhan McDonough | The Harvard Ichthus | Fall 2017

War and Peace in Christian Tradition

What are some wise insights and necessary points of reflection that we, Christian or not, should take heed of when confronted with violence, war and the question of justice?

Erik Johnson | MIT et Spiritus | Fall 2016

Lending and Borrowing: A Christian Perspective

This paper will delve further into what the Bible has to say about lending and borrowing, how its interpretation has changed over time, and how it can work in today’s society.

Roy Walker | Swarthmore Peripateo | Spring 2016

The Theodicy of C.S. Lewis

Lewis’s defense of God’s goodness in the presence of evil rests heavily upon the belief that love given out of free will is more valuable than love given out of forced obedience.

Brian Klein | St Olaf Avodah | Spring 2015

On Marilynne Robinson’s Lila

In Marilynne Robinson's Lila, we are meant to see ourselves writ large: pitiful and scared, and not quite sure where we stand with God, or how we found ourselves here, in this house, tending to the garden, living this sort of life.

Kate Massinger | The Harvard Ichthus | Fall 2016

Why States Fail: Lessons from Augustine

If we can ascertain our nature, we can begin to understand what makes societies perpetually problematic.

Jeffrey Poomkudy | The Dartmouth Apologia | Spring 2017

Nonviolent Action and the Revolution of the Cross

In fact, in line with this trend of “questioning institutions”, MIT has recently announced a $250,000 award to further encourage “extraordinary civil, non-violent disobedience for the benefit of society.” But why is this all happening?

Matthew Chun | MIT et Spiritus | Spring 2017

Augustine Collective Alum Obasi Shaw ’17 Awarded Honors for Rap Thesis at Harvard

Entitled “Liminal Minds,” the album combines such influences as Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper and Geoffrey Chaucer to portray contemporary black life in America. Shaw is the first in Harvard's history to submit a rap album for the senior thesis project.

Augustine Collective News | Augustine Collective | Spring 2017

The Diabolically Ridiculous

I assert that up to this point I have made a strong case for why the devil is ridiculous and tragic, but from my description, he does not sound very evil.

John Nystrom | Cornell Claritas | Fall 2016

The Manna of Human Rights

As aforementioned, the lack of a solid foundation for human rights and dignity provides leeway for human rights violations and impunity for perpetrators of atrocities.

Aurora Ling | UC Berkeley TAUG | Fall 2016

The Heart of Man is Not Compound of Lies: Redemptive Sacrifice Found in Fictional Literature

Joseph Campbell, a 20th-century scholar of mythology and religion, wrote that myths indicate the universal search for meaning, as well as reflect the journey of each individual.

Lydia Anderson | CalPoly Aletheia | Fall 2016

The Gospel in the First Century

What I found in my studies and hope to summarize in this article is that a deeper understanding of the first-century Jewish world in which Jesus lived makes for a much richer appreciation of the good news that he proclaimed.

Erik Johnson | MIT et Spiritus | Spring 2016

The Human Idiot and the Superhuman Giant

From these imperfections, one can obtains oxymoronic requirements for a hero to be capable of saving: intimate acquaintance with human suffering and superhuman strength to endure suffering for others.

Amanda Gee | UC Berkeley TAUG | Spring 2016

The Christian Faith

One way God manifests His nature in us is through our rationality.

Irving Nestor | The Hopkins Dialectic | Spring 2016

Forgiveness and Justice

We do not forgive because we seek to appease white America who feels guilt and shame for not speaking out that black lives matter.

Emani Pollard | The Cornell Claritas | Fall 2015

Christian Morality and Euthyphro’s Dilemma

The changing views of society on these and other issues have to some been evidence of our moral improvement and enlightenment, and to others a sign of moral deterioration.

Richard Ibekwe | MIT et Spiritus | Spring 2016

God, Good, and Evil

We must look for a foundation that incorporates within itself the moral laws we look for, not deriving itself from them as the societal laws do.

Samuel Cooper | The Hopkins Dialectic | Spring 2016

The Implications of Naturalism and the Problem of Divine Hiddenness

An interview with Dr. Michael Rea, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, who specializes in metaphysics and the philosophy of religion.

The Dartmouth Apologia Staff | The Dartmouth Apologia | Fall 2015

The Problem of Evil: An Ichthus Roundtable

In addition to our own thoughts, we provide links to a wide variety of pieces on the problem of evil by professional philosophers.

The Harvard Ichthus Staff | The Harvard Ichthus | Fall 2015

Why Do We Suffer?

When I think of the Sandy Hook shooting, I am reminded of Ivan, one of the brothers in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov.

Obasi Shaw | The Harvard Ichthus | Fall 2015

The Universe: Magical, Meaningful, and Modern

Can a materialistic, physicalist account of the universe answer the fundamental questions of our existence—what does it mean to be human?

Marylynne Sitko | The Dartmouth Apologia | Fall 2014

A Christian View of History

The strength of the metanarrative of progress and the triumph of the will falls short under examination.

Nathaniel Schmucker | The Dartmouth Apologia | Fall 2014

Law, Craig, and Lewis on the Problem of Evil

The philosophers William Craig (a theist) and Stephen Law (an atheist) met in Westminster Central Hall to debate the existence of God. Within the discussion was an exchange on the Problem of Natural Evil.

Josh Tseng-Tham | The Dartmouth Apologia | Spring 2014

The Westboro Baptist Church: Rebellion Gone Wrong

Simply put, the WBC expresses hate towards groups that do not adhere to their teachings and stances.

Daniel Abarca | The Harvard Ichthus | Spring 2013

Screwtape on Prefrosh

Unseat the desire for truth in your patient and replace it with a desire for academic respect, and your job is half done.

Judith Huang | The Harvard Ichthus | Summer 2011 - Special issue for the incoming class of 2015

Escaping the Prison of Guilt

It is important to acknowledge the harm that our sins cause, but the depth of one’s guilt should not be a standard for one’s moral worth.

Marcos Martinez | | The Columbia Cross & Cross

The Problem with Passivity

"If you aren’t okay with murder, then don’t murder anyone." Something tells me that this statement would not be a popular political position to take. Or maybe it would.

Natalie Hejduk | Princeton Revisions | Fall 2013

Costly Consolation: Freud’s Illusion and Bonhoefferian Grace

Sigmund Freud once wrote that the idea of religion is “born from man’s need to make his helplessness tolerable.”

Paul Escher | St. Olaf Avodah | Spring 2014

A Reflection on the Ontological Argument

Wrapping our heads around the idea that “to exist is better than to not exist” is critical to our faith.

Charles Min | Princeton Revisions | December 2013

Love Your Enemies: A Radical Call to Christian Pacifism

“But!” you cry – I can almost hear it now – what about saving society from criminals, and children from murderers, and Europe from Hitler, and America from the Terrorists? In sum, what about all the innocent people whom we have a duty to protect from the evildoers?

Nathan Otey | The Harvard Ichthus | Spring 2013

The Problem of Good: Is Christianity Necessary?

Just as people have taken the presence of evil as a reason to question the validity of Christianity, so also people have seen the presence of good as inconsistent with Christianity’s message.

Nathaniel Schmucker | The Dartmouth Apologia | Fall 2013

A Religious Animal?

How to understand the story of the Fall while accepting that death, too, was there from the beginning of life on earth?

Stephen Mackereth | The Harvard Ichthus | Fall 2013

Salvific Suffering and the Dark Night of the Soul

We have begun to “anaesthetize our existence,” writes biblical scholar Luke Timothy Johnson. Our public discourse often assumes that the most difficult lives are simply not worth living.

Robert Smith | The Dartmouth Apologia | Spring 2013

Why Jesus?

J.R.R. Tolkien has undoubtedly captivated the heart of many in his Middle Earth saga, The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien’s ability to resonate with his audience lies in his tale’s appeal to human nature itself.

Mako Nagasawa | The Harvard Ichthus | Fall 2012

On Money

We accept Paul’s claim that the love of money is the root of all evil, but we know that that verse does not entail us to shun money itself as an evil. Money, at the end of the day, is also part of His Creation, and all things were created for His glory.

Richard Lee and April Koh | The Yale Logos | Winter 2012

The Divine Attributes: Why an Imperfect God Just Won’t Do

Yoram Hazony’s version of apophaticism restricts theists to a kind of fideism, wherein our rational concept “God,” a human construct, is radically divorced from the subject of our faith, the non-conceptual, personal God. The result is confused, even contradictory.

Chris Hauser | The Dartmouth Apologia | Spring 2013

You Have Not Spoken of Me What Is Right: The Brothers Karamazov and the Book of Job

Dostoevsky told his wife that Job was one of the earliest books to make a “deep impression in [his] life,” and its influence on his work is far-reaching.

David Truschel | The Dartmouth Apologia | Spring 2013, Volume 7, Issue 2

Love Thy Enemy

Are Christians merely ignoring the horrible things that the Boston bomber has done in praying for him? Is Rabbi Boteach right to claim that “[T]o show kindness to the murderer,” as the Christians are doing, “is to violate the victim yet again”?

Enoch Kuo | Princeton Revisions |

Why Is There Winter In Narnia?

Why is there winter? And second, what needs to happen for the life-giving thaw of spring to return? In other words, what is the origin of what is wrong with the world, and what is the solution to it?

Nick Nowalk | The Harvard Ichthus | Fall 2012, Volume 8, Number 3.

On the Trinitarian God Friendship and the Wonder of Creation interview

On the Trinitarian God, Friendship and the Wonder of Creation – An Interview with Father James V. Schall

"You have taught college undergraduates for many years. What are the basic questions of meaning and purpose that every liberal arts student should consider?"

Christopher Hauser | The Dartmouth Apologia | Fall 2012, Volume 7, Issue 1

Euthyphro’s Dilemma and the Goodness of God

One of the most persistent issues in the philosophy of religion has been the origin of our concept of “moral good.”

Brendan Woods | The Dartmouth Apologia | Winter 2011,Volume 5 Issue 1

Christians, Pagans, and the Good Life

In contrast to the three most influential worldviews of the Roman world— Gnosticism, Stoicism, Neoplatonism—Christianity proclaimed that our earthly realm and needs were of tremendous importance to both our humanity and God.

Suiwen Liang | The Dartmouth Apologia | Volume 6, Issue 2 - Spring 2012

Physics and the Idea of God

The way in which we think the natural laws work suggests a new way of thinking about God and how God may act in the world: energizing, guiding, and holding all things together.

Prof. Stuart Crampton | The Williams Telos | Spring 2011, Issue 5

November 2019