Why do bad things happen to good people?
Why is there suffering in the world?
Why are there earthquakes and typhoons and other disasters?

No philosophy or religion has ever generated a single satisfying answer to these questions, and note the key word there: satisfying. Sure, I can pull plenty of bible verses and cite plenty of theologians and philosophers who have attempted to answer these questions in various ways, but ultimately, there is not —and will likely never be— a single agreed-upon answer to the big question of evil. That being said, questions usually shape us more than answers, and the question of evil has guided much of modern philosophy and spirituality, including a key field of theology: theodicy.

“Theodicy” comes from two Greek words for “God” (Θεός) and “justice/judgment” (δίκη), so the term itself means “justification of God” or “God on trial.” At its simplest, a theodicy is an exploration of how God can allow evil in the world. Rabbi Harold Kushner famously stated any serious theodicy can have at most two of the following three precepts: God is all good, God is all powerful, and/or evil exists in the world. Kushner called these three “the eternal triangle” because he believed that we would always be trapped within this logical landscape. Yep, to contend with the question of evil is to enter this triangle and spend a significant amount of time there.

I could almost map different Christian denominations onto the eternal triangle. Arminians sacrifice some of God’s almightiness to make room for the other two. St. Augustine made a similar argument, with evil in the world coming from humanity’s free will and sin; Augustine’s argument preserves God’s goodness but shows God ceding some power. I would argue Neocalvinists compromise God’s goodness or at least define “goodness” very differently (but that would be a very contentious argument). And for some Christian groups who speak of absolutely everything as “God’s will,” can anything that occurs really be considered evil? The vast majority of Christian groups —hell, the vast majority of theistic groups— tend to play within Kushner’s triangle.

There are some theologies which explicitly resist the triangle. Process Theologian Catherine Keller argues that separating God’s goodness and God’s power is reductionistic; the two are far more intertwined than we can untangle with simple logic. For example, can we really have power totally bereft of goodness or goodness bereft of power? As Keller states in On the Mystery, “If love and power do not contradict each other in the divine nature, we have the clue we need. On the mystery, the alternative power would be precisely the power of love.” God’s love is in itself all-good, all-powerful, and a force resisting and remedying evil, so doesn’t this break the triangle?

Perhaps this is a copout on my part, but I thoroughly believe we won’t have an answer to the questions of theodicy on this side of eternity. More than likely, God’s power, God’s goodness, and evil have all found some way to coexist which our brains can’t fully comprehend. Sure, I have working theories about it which help me to sleep at night, but at the end of the day, the answer may just be unknowable. That’s no reason not to ask though.

Why do bad things happen to good people?
Why is there suffering in the world?
Why are there earthquakes and typhoons and other disasters?

These kinds of questions help us to explore our beliefs about God, about evil, and about ourselves. They’re useful questions. Important questions. And as a mentor of mine once put it: “There’s no question you can ask that could take God off God’s throne, so ask away.”