Answering Theodicy Questions: The Role of Plausibility

Examining the concepts of good vs evil under an omnipotent and loving God, the author seeks answers to great and divisive questions we have all asked.

Answering Theodicy Questions: The Role of Plausibility presents a two-part explanation of how an omnipotent and loving God could have created this world even though it has so much evil and suffering in it. John S. Pletz contends that a plausible theodicy (and not just a logically possible one) can be found in the strong net benefits that human beings receive from having four key attributes, even though those are the things that enable and facilitate much of the harm that occurs here. Those attributes have also allowed people to engage in substantive relationships with others and to take advantage of the continual opportunities that they have to lead meaningful lives.

The author then examines the nature of plausibility and its differences from both possibility and probability. He sets out how this approach to a theodicy answer provides rational support for the proposition that if an all-powerful creator God exists, that God could also be omnibenevolent. He argues that because this tripartite answer to the general theodicy question is not dependent upon any religious premise, it should be considered to be reasonably believable regardless of personal belief or non-belief.

In the second part of the book the author discusses how some people might be able to better deal with specific theodicy questions that they may have (e.g., "If God is good, why is this bad thing now happening to me?"). It addresses not only their searches for underlying reasons for the harms that have occurred to them but also several ways in which they could confront the kinds of challenges that often follow from those harms.