Does Divine Mystery Lead to Moral Paralysis? The Agency of the Spirit and the Skeptical Theist Response to the Problem of Evil (Intro)

A scene of the devastation of the recent tsunami that hit Japan, courtesy kerala365.com

I am here beginning a series of posts comprised of my paper on the skeptical theist response to the problem of evil. This first post is the introduction of the paper.
                            
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Recent discussions concerning the problem of evil have often featured two different responses to suffering: theodicy and skeptical theism. Theodicy in the Christian tradition is the attempt to give specific reasons for why an all-good, all-powerful God might allow evil and suffering in the world (in the vein of Leibniz). Skeptical theism, on the other hand, is the response to the problem of evil that claims that given our limited cognitive situation, if God has a reason to permit suffering, it is unlikely that we would be able to identify it (in the tradition of Job).


This paper will take as its problem recent objections to skeptical theism. The objectors claim that skeptical theism leads to moral skepticism and ultimately to moral paralysis. I will argue that while this conclusion does seem to follow for a broad skeptical theism, it need not follow for a more modest, limited form of skeptical theism which pairs divine mystery with Scriptural revelation. Further, I claim that reflecting on the agency of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit’s empowering work in human agency is the impetus for human moral agency.