Date
6-2017
Department
Rawlings School of Divinity
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Theology and Apologetics (PhD)
Chair
Edward Martin
Keywords
Abductive, Defense, Free Will, Problem of Evil, Regularity, Theodical Suggestion
Disciplines
Biblical Studies | Christianity | Comparative Methodologies and Theories | Other Religion | Religion | Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion
Recommended Citation
Morgan, Peter, "An Introduction to the Free System Corollary: A Theistic Response to the Abductive Problem of Evil" (2017). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 1485.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/1485
Abstract
Two important theistic defenses, the Free Will Defense and the Expanded Free Will Defense, provide valuable thought in defense of theism but are insufficient for addressing specific cases of intense evil, as the non-theistic evidential/abductive arguments from the problem of evil are want to do. However, theodical suggestions from systems of regularity, as a necessary part of living out a free will existence, provide a theistic defense that correlates with free will defenses and more fully accounts for the existence of good and intense evil. This Free System Corollary is derived from a starting point of two basic goods in human life: free will and free systems. After consideration of free will and free systems, theodical suggestions arise, naturally flowing from the evidence provided from free will and free systems. Through the application of the Free System Corollary to specific cases of intense evil, the argument is made that theism offers better potential explanations than naturalism for the amounts and kinds of evils in this world based on what is known of human reality.
Included in
Biblical Studies Commons, Christianity Commons, Comparative Methodologies and Theories Commons, Other Religion Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons
