God, Freedom, and Evil by Alvin Plantinga (PDF)

Description

In his discussion of natural theology (arguments to prove the existence of God) and natural atheology (arguments for the falsehood of theistic belief) Plantinga focuses on two of the traditional arguments: the ontological argument as an example of natural theology, and the problem of evil as the most important representative of natural atheology. Accessible to serious general readers.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This reminds me of a philosophy class I had in college that required you to use analytical logic. It’s about as much fun as diagramming sentences but ultimately leads you to well-reasoned answers. So, I would love to give it five-stars because of Plantinga’s conclusions regarding the existence of God and why having faith in Him is solidly backed by philosophical reasoning in the traditional style of philosophers, wherein statements read like mathematical equations. However, even though it is a short book, it is exhausting to read. Or rather re-read – because I had to reexamine paragraphs repeatedly to derive meaning. Great exercise for the mind though.

⭐Since I was taking a class on the problem of evil this semester, I wanted to finally read Alvin Plantinga’s classic work, God, Freedom, and Evil (1974). Though it’s a short book at only 112 pages, its philosophical depth focused on logical analysis requires slow, intentional reading. The book begins with the question, “Why does God permit evil?” and attempts to show that it is not inconsistent to affirm that God is omnipotent, God is wholly good, and evil exists. Plantinga articulates the Free Will Defense to account for what God’s reason(s) for permitting evil might possibly be, which is to say that the possibility exists that “God could not have created a universe containing moral good without creating one that also contained moral evil.”It is usually acknowledged that Plantinga’s conclusion is true: ”The Free Will Defense shows that the existence of God is compatible, both logically and probabilistically, with the existence of evil; thus, it solves the main philosophical problem of evil.” What this means is that other kinds of problems of evil must carry objections or personal struggles. He writes, ”The theist may find a religious problem of evil; in the presence of his own suffering or that of someone near to him he may find it difficult to maintain what he takes to be the proper attitude towards God. Faced with great personal suffering or misfortune, he may be tempted to rebel against God, to shake his fist in God’s face, or even to give up belief in God altogether. But this is a problem of a different dimension. Such a problem calls, not for philosophical enlightenment, but for pastoral care.”

⭐The simple and direct use of logical propositions on two specific questions, the problem of evil, and the ontological proof for the existence of God.The author is scrupulous, fair, and pithy. As a result, the reader can generally follow the arguments, with some pause from time to time to do a simple moment of thought. The honesty of the arguments avoids the off-putting tone that some authors can fall into…Engaging with these arguments is not easy. This book makes things accessible. I am entirely convinced that the intellect is a partial pathway to understanding these questions, and a useful partial pathway, at best. Given that conviction on my part, I think that this book is an excellent mini-workbook for a questioning reader.

⭐”If God is all-powerful and all-good, why is there evil? Either God is not all-powerful or not all-good.” This is the second most important philosophical question, right behind “Does God exist?” In my humble opinion, Plantinga answers the problem of evil extremely well and, until the evidence presents itself, answers it sufficiently for me.I have felt that Christian scholars and apologists have either not tried to answer this question or have provided poor arguments for it. This book, even though it is short, is extremely dense; I would say graduate or even doctoral level dense. Advice: you need to go very slowly through it and take notes. One of the positives of this book is that it is not for the “laymen.” I often am annoyed by apologists for how they try and dumb things down, which leaves those of us who can understand complex philosophical concepts yearning for more. Plantinga does not do this. Everything in this book is complex and you need to be slow reading it.2/3rds of the book (1-75) addresses the problem of evil and successfully makes the defense that there can be an all-powerful and all-good God with evil in the world. It is absolutely brilliant. Some of the best philosophy I have ever read. I will not share his arguments, as I do not want to spoil them for you. If you are by some chance not convinced by the arguments you must at least acknowledge that it is an outstanding argument. I have seen some pretty junior philosophical reviews that attempt to show that his argument isn’t sound. This is simply untrue. Let me remind all of you that you can acknowledge an excellent argument while still not being totally convinced.The last 1/3rd of the book (77-111) is his argument for the existence of God. This is the part of the book that I am somewhat less impressed with. While I still find his philosophical reasoning sound and on an expert level, it doesn’t quite hit home the same way the first 2/3rds did. I also question why he felt the need to add this last 1/3rd. Plantinga takes on his reformed version of the ontological argument, and has a few objections that he refutes. I personally do not think that the ontological argument is the strongest argument for the existence of God, but he does a good job presenting it. Once again, I think he could have ended the book with simply the first 75 pages and it would have been sufficient. But I suppose perhaps he felt that it would be too short of a book, or maybe his publisher had some say in it (these are not facts, these are simply my thoughts. I could and more than likely am wrong).To my atheist, agnostic and deistic friends, I would ask you to do a few things. Become Descartes and empty your mind of all biases before reading. Then, go slowly through it. Truly ponder what Plantinga is saying. Take notes. While I am a Christian (a former deist), I can acknowledge that accepting that an all-powerful and all-good God can exist with evil in the world does not necessarily mean that God himself exists. These are two different arguments in themselves; one of them acknowledges to a degree that God does exist, but argues that he is either not all-powerful or not all-good. The other question in itself does not begin with God even existing, but asking “Does God exist?” Please go into reading this book with this in mind.Overall it is fantastic. I highly recommend.

⭐Atheists tend to dismiss the idea of God as just a more sophisticated version of the worship of idols. Plating a demonstrates that there is no logical objection to the existence of God. He shows that the concept “if God is omniscient and omnipotent and morally perfect, there could not be evil in the world”. This criticism of God is presented by atheists as a logical argument. Platinga shows that this criticism is based on faulty reasoning.The book covers a number of similar statements. However, be ready to ccb oncentrate it is a formally argued set of logical premises reaching interesting conclusions.

⭐I really enjoyed this book, i felt beyond the topic it was a very good primer on how to think philosophically. The concept is very good using the free will defence but extending to counter other arguments. I did feel that this dealt with human evil very well, but i believe more could have been done on natural evil

⭐For philosophical heavy weight lifting this book is amazingly clear and straightforward. Plantinga makes it look easy. Essential reading for the philosophy student.

⭐Using logical equations to explain good, bad and the existence of God is not the best way to convince the reader of the existence of God and justify evil on earth. Aslo, It’s very hard to read this book on Kindle because of the several references to equations wrote on previous pages of the book. Better to read this book on paper format, if you insist.

⭐This is a very well written book but not accessible for everyone, no matter reader interest in the subject matter and the approach taken in it. The logic, though lineated progressively, is still difficult to follow. This book is only for those philosophically trained and interested in how it intersects with theology. Well-argued but would be over the heads of most readers.

⭐Excellent explanation of the Free Will Defense.

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