SOLVING THE PROBLEM OF EVIL

A primary goal of this book is to make theodicy-defense of God's goodness and omnipotence in view of the existence of evil-more accessible to the lay reader. A good example of this is the following quote by Yogi Berra, Hall of Fame baseball catcher equally famous for his head-scratching Yogisms: "If the world were perfect, it wouldn't be." What? He went on to clarify: "I believe you have to take the good with the bad, otherwise how do you know when things are good? If the world were perfect, how would you know?"

In A Perfectly Designed Imperfect World, Mike Carroll's theodicy approaches solving the Problem of Evil from the perspective of God's design of life and how that design can lead us-but not compel us-to come to know, appreciate and love God and others. For this theodicy, the author draws heavily from the works in Open Theism, and the works of philosophers such as John Hick and Richard Swinburne. He also draws from works within existentialism, especially theologians such as Paul Tillich, who saw within existentialism-with its emphasis on free will, ambiguity and anxiety-the hand of God leading us to love.