Product Description

Evil is one of the deepest and most central problems of human existence - a problem that every individual and every age must face for itself. Our grandparents' generation faced the evil of Hitler and the Holocaust, our parents' generation that of Stalin and Communism. We face terrorism and suicide bombers. But perhaps the question is not that simple. How did Nazism arise in Christian Germany? Do we not do evil ourselves? In a world where millions of children starve to death every year are we complicit in institutional evil? What exactly is evil? The authors explore our changing approach to evil, particularly in the Western Christian tradition, and the different answers that have been given. They look at the way our current ideas are presented in popular film and literature, like "Star Wars", "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter". A wide range of great artists in the Western tradition is used to illustrate the way our understanding of these questions is fundamental to our humanity and our everyday behaviour.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95186 in Books
• Published on: 2003-12-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

About the Author
Peter Vardy is Vice-Principal of Heythrop College, University of London, and is one of the best known philosophers of religion in Britain and Australia. His "Puzzle" series of books published by Harper Collins have been through many printings and are available in many languages. Julie Arliss is lecturer in religious Education at Richard Huish College, Taunton, Somerset.

Customer Reviews

Essential reading
If you take A Level theology these days then either Peter Vardy is your primary resource, or you were born with the abilities of Thomas Aquinas. (Or perhaps you are destined to fail - who knows?)

But with this book, Vardy has surpassed himself. This is not simply a textbook for late teens cramming their way into college, but the only recent contribution to an issue that everyone in the modern world really should know more about.

For students, there are thorough but concise accounts of all the major contributors to our study of the nature, extent and implications of evil. That's good - they need to do more homework anyway.

But for the rest of us, a more complete and comprehensive guide to the most fundamental problem of moral life in our times simply does not exist.

You cannot read this book without questioning your own assumptions about right and wrong, without examining the rules you apply to your judgement of different peoples' interpretations of the same rules, or without learning something about how evil can often depend upon the place you are standing.

And if this book offends you, upsets you, or causes you to change your opinion about something, then that is all the more reason for you to read it.

A Thinker's Guide which will leave you thinking!
Peter Vardy and Julie Arliss have produced an excellent account of many of the traditional arguments with excellent modern examples to show that the question is still relevant. They also take things even further making you want to turn the pages more and more in search for 'an' answer - which you must find for yourself. The content is superb - to a standard which will maintain any students interest and develop their understanding to the levels needed for AS and A2. That said, this is an excellent read for any serious Christian (in particular) believer who is not afraid to question what they believe and why they believe it. Readers are helped to focus on questions with helpful 'Questions for Consideration' to clear up understanding at the end of each chapter. The book is also visually stunning and well structured in its sections. You'll struggle to get a better commentator on the Philosophy of Relgion than Vardy who makes many teachers lives that little bit easier.

The Non (Free) Thinker's Guide to Evil
If you are a free-thinker interested in considering the problem of evil, then this isn't the book for you. It basically repeats the standard Christian answer to the problem of theodicy, throwing in some brickbats at atheists and humanists into the bargain. My recommedtation? Read Nietzsche instead....