The painful holiness of the real

Abstract

Yujin Nagasawa’s book, The Problem of Evil for Atheists, aims to show how theists, pantheists, axiarchists, and atheists all share a problem. On the one hand, they posit some cherished entity (God, nature, evolution, etc.). On the other hand, this cherished entity either causes or contains suffering, which is apparently incompatible with their cherishing. To solve their problem, these groups can and have turned to holiness. A holy entity can be cherished even if it causes or contains suffering. Hence, their shared solution revolves around a common core, which I link with John Hick’s Real. Nagasawa adds pantheism, axiarchism, and atheism to Hick’s pluralism. By doing this, he strips the Real of residual monotheistic features which might make it idolatrous. For those who oppose idolatry, Nagasawa opens up a vast new territory of religious opportunities.