oa De theodicee Een nieuwe benadering van een oud probleem?

1Graag dank ik mijn student-assistente, Helen Gaasbeek, voor haar hulp bij de voorbereiding van dit artikel, dat in essentie teruggaat op mijn ‘Theodicy and Modernity,’ in: A. Laato & J.C. de Moor (eds.). Theodicy in the World of the Bible, Leiden 2003, I -26.

The author discusses the question whether the introduction of the term ‘theodicy’ by Leibniz marks the introduction of a new approach to the problem of evil, and whether the term ‘theodicy’ should be reserved for this modern approach. He argues that the premodern approach to theodicy is less monolithic than is sometimes assumed, and that some aspects of the ‘modern’ approach to evil can be traced back to the Bible. While the Enlightenment led to changes in the Western approach to evil, then, these changes are not so radical that the term ‘theodicy’ should be reserved for post-Enlightenment approaches to evil only.