The Meaning of Evil

The modern age is marked by a singular preoccupation with the problem of evil and its attendant implications for the Gospel message. In The Meaning of Evil, Charles Journet conducts a robust theological study of the Christian tradition and its response to this perennial question. Carefully and competently restating and elaborating upon the tradition, Journet lays out clearly the problem of evil in its nature and its forms; considers the relation of evil to an omnipotent and loving God; distinguishes natural evils from moral evils; establishes freedom as the condition for both good and evil; and, in closing, reflects upon evil in human history, suffering as “trial,” and the authentically human attitude toward suffering. Standing among the best scholarly treatments of its topic, The Meaning of Evil is notable also for its merciful concern for concrete human sufferings, a concern which manifests the full import of Léon Bloy’s famous formula: “Man has places in his poor heart which do not yet exist, and into them enters suffering, that they may have existence.”