Ep. #45 – Evidential Evil with Joshua Brown

by John DeRosa · Published June 15, 2019 · Updated June 16, 2019

Summary

If God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good, then why are there seemingly pointless evils in the world? Why do fawns die painfully in forest fires? How can God allow children to get beaten to a pulp by insidious aggressors? Joshua Brown joins us to discuss what’s come to be known as the Evidential Argument from Evil (EAE). His unique approach has close ties to the God of Classical Theism.

Guest Bio

Joshua Matthan Brown is a Ph.D. candidate in philosophy at the University of Birmingham and the assistant chaplain to Orthodox Christians at Cardiff University. Currently, his research interests include defending the eutaxiological argument for the existence of God and applying apophatic theology to various problems within the philosophy of religion. He is married and has six beautiful children.

Show Outline

In the first segment, Brown outlines the purpose and premises of the evidential argument from evil (EAE). He explains Rowe’s famous formulation with examples. Also, he defines Christian apophaticism as he makes use of that term in his paper.

In the next segment, Brown explains his apophatic response to the EAE. Also, he discusses why this approach is ideal. Additionally, he mentions how we can say God is good while also affirming negative theology.

In the final segment, we talk about the doctrine of analogy and Brown explains a difference between the Easter orthodox view of God’s essence/energies and the Thomistic view.

Post-interview Remarks

The Catholic Church has taught definitively that God is Absolutely Simple. This is found in the documents of the Fourth Lateran Council and First Vatican Council. Catholics must affirm this.
Some Orthodox theologians pushing the essence-energies distinction also deny Absolute Divine Simplicity. But, not all of them do.
For those theologians that accept Absolute Divine Simplicity and also espouse the essence-energy distinction, their work can be looked at as a rival model to Aquinas when it comes to talking about God.
Personally, I choose to stick with Aquinas. Fr. Peter Totleben has an excellent recent paper arguing for the superiority of the Thomistic position. But, for those affirming Absolute Divine Simplicity, discussion about the essence-energy distinction and related matters take place at the level of theological opinion.