Thomas Aquinas and Why Evil is Allowed to Happen

THOMAS AQUINAS ON GOD AND EVIL, by Brian Davies, Oxford University Press, New York. 2011. 192pp.

Reviewed by John OLeary
Brian Davies, professor of philosophy at Fordham University, has written a very readable account of how St Thomas Aquinas dealt with the problem of evil.

Traditionally put by Epicurus and others since his time, the problem is this: Is God willing to prevent evil but is unable to do so? If so, then God is impotent. Is God able to prevent evil but unwilling to do so? If so, then God is malicious. Is God both able and willing to prevent evil? If so, then why is there evil?

Clearly this problem is at the heart of any significant attempt to make sense theologically of the immense suffering that is in the world, both evil done and evil suffered. Davies shows how Aquinas, as both philosopher and theologian, begins with what there is.

This involves a short discussion of being, essences and causes. There follows a chapter on goodness and badness, in which our assumptions about what is good or bad about any event or thing are well and truly rattled. Davies notes that Aquinas thinks that nothing is unreservedly or purely bad.

The chapter on God the Creator takes us through how we know that God exists, and there is more on the meaning of the words essence, existence and God. Then we move on through two delightfully intriguing sections on what God is not and divine simplicity.

Davies then moves to the heart of the matter in chapters on Gods perfection and Gods goodness, and on the Creator and evil. This latter chapter deals with omnipotence, Gods causation in relation to both evil suffered and evil done, and concludes with a section on human choices. Davies also takes us through Aquinas views on Providence and Grace, followed by a chapter on the Trinity and Christ.

The highlight is the concluding chapter, titled Aquinas, God and Evil. It contains a five-page, seventeen-point summary of Aquinas philosophical and theological understanding of evil that should be essential (no pun intended) reading for anyone who would like a very readable introduction to what is often dismissed as too complex a mystery to be worth trying to understand. Surely we have a duty as Christians to ensure that our faith seeks understanding?

Brian Davies book is an excellent place to start, both for the serious student and for the curious believer who may not have an academic interest in the subject, but who has an urgent need for tools with which to make sense of God and evil.

Readers may be interested to know that Davies is the curator of the written work of the late Dominican Father Herbert McCabe who gave three lectures in Cape Town in 1980 on “God and Creation”, “God and Freedom” and “God and Evil”. The one on God and Creation will be published soon (the others are already published).

Fr McCabes own book, God and Evil in the Theology of St Thomas Aquinas (Continuum Books, London, 2010) is referred to in Davies book, and approaches the question from a slightly different angle. Both books are highly recommended. Brian Davies book is a challenging and rewarding read.

John OLeary is an attorney working in Cape Town.