Abstract
This paper asks how the prospects of an afterlife might affect how we approach the problem of evil, which is doubtless the foremost intellectual difficulty that theists face. The paper considers four possible afterlife theories, asking not whether they are true but how, if they are true, they might affect the problem of evil. The four theories are “death ends all” (i.e., there is no conscious life after death for humans), immortality of the soul, reincarnation, and bodily resurrection. Next the paper proposes a theodicy which is partially based on the possibility of bodily resurrection. The crucial claim is that God will redeem all evil. Finally, the paper asks whether the existence of evil in the world might provide grounds for hope.
Some of this essay is adapted from Davis (2000) and Davis (forthcoming)
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Notes
- 1.
But Ayer’s disbelief in life after death was at least temporarily softened by a now famous near-death experience, as recounted in his “What I Saw When I Was Dead.” It is reprinted in Paul Edwards ed. (1992) Immortality.
- 2.
This is a term used in Advaita Vedanta Hinduism; it roughly corresponds to the Western term “soul.”
- 3.
Both are found in Hamilton and Cairns (1961).
- 4.
Many such cases are discussed in Almeder (1992: 162–201).
- 5.
A classic statement of temporary disembodiment is found in Thomas Aquinas (1975 [1264]: 4.79.11).
- 6.
- 7.
My own more complete efforts along these lines can be found in my contributions to Davis (2001).
- 8.
It must be admitted that the severity and duration of suffering sometimes exceeds what seems to be required in order to bring people to moral and spiritual maturity.
- 9.
- 10.
My thoughts in this section of the paper are developed more fully in Davis (2009: Chapter 12).
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Davis, S.T. (2017). The Problem of Evil. In: Nagasawa, Y., Matheson, B. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of the Afterlife. Palgrave Frontiers in Philosophy of Religion. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-48609-7_19
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