Theodicy attempts to resolve how a good God and evil world can coexist.
The neo-atheist view in this debate has dominated recent bestseller lists
through books like The God Delusion (Richard Dawkins), God Is Not Great
(Christopher Hitchens), and The End of Faith (Samuel Harris). And their
popularity illuminates a changing mental environment wherein people are
asking harder questions about divine goodness. Surprisingly, these books
please intelligent design champion William Dembski, because "They would
be unnecessary if Christianity were not again a live issue."
Entering the conversation, Dembski's provocative The End of Christianity
embraces the challenge to formulate a theodicy that is both faithful to
Christian orthodoxy and credible to the new mental environment. He writes
to make peace with three claims: (1) God by wisdom created the world out
of nothing. (2) God exercises particular providence in the world. (3) All evil
in the world ultimately traces back to human sin. In the process, Dembski
brings the reader to a fresh understanding of what "the end (result) of
Christianity" really means: the radical realignment of our thinking so that
we see God's goodness in creation despite the distorting effects of sin in our
hearts and evil in the world.
