Divine Morality or Divine Love? On Sterba’s New Logical Problem of Evil

In his recent version of the logical problem of evil, James Sterba articulates several moral principles that, on the assumption that God is morally perfect, seem to entail God’s non-existence. Such moral principles, however, only apply to God on the assumption that he is a moral agent. I first argue...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jonathan C. Rutledge
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-01-01
Series:Religions
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/14/2/157
Description
Summary:In his recent version of the logical problem of evil, James Sterba articulates several moral principles that, on the assumption that God is morally perfect, seem to entail God’s non-existence. Such moral principles, however, only apply to God on the assumption that he is a moral agent. I first argue against this assumption by appealing to recent work by Mark Murphy before, secondly, suggesting an alternative way to frame Sterba’s argument in terms of divine love. One can distinguish God’s motivation to promote creaturely welfare on the basis of love from a motivation grounded in morality, and I claim that doing so results in a stronger form of the logical argument.
ISSN:2077-1444