About the Book:Is evil evidence against the existence of God? Even if God and evil are compatible, it remains hotly contested whether evil renders belief in God unreasonable. The Evidential Argument from Evil presents five classic statements on this issue by eminent philosophers and theologians and places them in dialogue with eleven original essays reflecting new thinking by these and other scholars. The volume focuses on two versions of the argument. The first affirms that there is no reason for God to permit either certain specific horrors or the variety and profusion of undeserved suffering. The second asserts that pleasure and pain, given their biological role, are better explained by hypotheses other than theism.Contributors include William P. Alston, Paul Draper, Richard M. Gale, Daniel Howard-Snyder, Alvin Plantinga, William L. Rowe, Bruce Russell, Eleonore Stump, Richard G. Swinburne, Peter van Inwagen, and Stephen John Wykstra.Table of Contents: PrefaceIntroduction: The Evidential Argument from Evil/Daniel Howard-SnyderThe Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism/William L. RowePain and Pleasure: An Evidential Problem for Theists/Paul draperSome Major Strands of Theodicy/Richard G. SwinburneAquinas on the Sufferings of Job/Eleonore StumpEpistemic Probability and Evil/Alvin PlantingaThe Inductive Argument from evil and the Human Cognitive Condition/William P. AlstonRowes Noseeum Arguments from Evil/Stephen WypkstraThe Problem of Evil, the Problem of Air, and the Problem of Silence/Peter van InwagenThe Skeptical Theist/Paul DraperDefenseless/Bruce RussellSome Difficulties in Theistic Treatments of Evil/Richard GaleReflections on the Essays of Draper, Russell, and Gale/Peter van InwagenOn being Evidentially Challenged/Alvin PlantingaThe Evidential Argument from Evil: A Second Look/William L. RoweThe Argument from Inscrutable Evil/Daniel Howard-SnyderSome (Temporarily) Final Thoughts on Evidential ARguments from Evil/William P. AlstonBibliographyContributorsIndex