God and Evil

It is now beyond dispute that Herbert McCabe, the Dominican Friar, was one of the most original and creative theologians of the post war years. Following his untimely death, Continuum have published a number of his typescripts which never saw the light of day during McCabe`s life.

McCabe was deeply immersed in the philosophical theology of St Thomas Aquinas and was responsible in part for the huge revival of interest in Thomism in our time. Now, McCabe tackles the problem of Evil head on through a Thomist lens. As God is the highest good and is the benevolent creator of all, how can he be the cause of evil? As God is the first cause surely the secondary cause of evil must be attributable to Him?

So how do we solve this apparent contradiction, of a God who is the Highest Good with no apparent defect? How can we say Evil is caused by a defective agent and not by God? An added theological complication is the penalty for Gods benevolent creation; namely that there is corruption in all things. In the hands of many theologians such discussions may appear to be no more than intellectual pirouetting. In McCabes hands, these issues come to life and have the force to be extremely relevant to the way we live and think today.

Herbert McCabe was a Dominican Friar and theologian of outstanding originality who died in 2001. He was deeply influential on philosophers such as Anthony Kenny and Alasdair MacIntyre and poets and writers like Terry Eagleton and Seamus Heaney.