The Problem of Evil and Theodicy: Focusing on the Evolutionary Theology of John Haught

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초록

I provide elucidation of Haught’s thoughts on the problem of evil and his idea of theodicy in light of evolutionary science. First, I examine what evil means for Haught. For Haught, original sin meant humanity’s habitual refusal to take its appropriate place in the continuous creation of the universe, and this understanding helps us to comprehend the inner meaning of original sin in consonance with evolutionary science. Haught divides evil into two types: the evil of disorder (caused by suffering, war, famine and death) and the evil of monotony (refusing to accept novelty). Next, I expound the evolutionary theodicy of Haught in its four aspects: creation as ‘letting be’, purpose or direction in evolution, divine kenosis and a metaphysics of the future. For Haught, the love of God that permits all creation to ‘become itself’ gives unlimited freedom to all creatures, and this even contains a capacity for evil. Haught also claims that God hopes that all creatures participate in the divine joy of creating the novel, so God does in fact want an uncompleted world for the sake of its completion together with His creatures.
Moreover, for Haught, the passion of Jesus implies that God takes full part in the pain and suffering of the world. Haught develops his idea into a ‘metaphysics of the future’, arguing that theodicy after Darwin is best understood in the perspective of new creation with eschatological hope. According to Haught, Darwin’s theory of evolution allows Christian theology to penetrate more deeply into the fundamentals of the Christian faith. Haught’s vision of the future can accommodate both the data of evolutionary biology and the claims of Christianity. Haught understands that an evolutionary understanding of the problem of evil, including the nature and origin of evil, is the most plausible theodicy in a scientific age.

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