Explaining evil : four views /

As Franks (Tyndale Univ. College, Canada) notes in his introduction, "This is not a typical book on the problem of evil." By problem of evil philosophers generally mean the problem of the compatibility of the existence of God and the world's ills. The four philosophers whose contributions make up this book do address the problem in traditional terms to some extent, but the focus is less on evil as a challenge to theism than on the larger question of what evil is and why it exists at all. Each of the contributors--two Christian theists and two atheists--presents a lead essay, which is then critiqued by the other three, to whom the lead author then responds. The tone is civil, but the critical interactions are lively and uninhibited. The discussion is carried on at a fairly high level of sophistication, though it is made somewhat more accessible by the occasional informality and even chattiness of the exchanges. The book is rounded out with an excellent recommended reading section (organized under four headings, "Evil," "The Problem of Evil," "Free Will," and "Ethics") and an extensive bibliography emphasizing recent (some of it very recent) literature. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Michael Latzer, Gannon University