A Mormon Theodicy: Jacob and the Problem of Evil

by Val Larsen

Overview

Lehi's son Jacob was troubled by a great theological mystery of his and our day -- the problem of evil. If God is both all good and all-powerful, how is it possible for the world to be so full of human and natural evils? Jacob was able to elicit from the Lord responses to the question of why He permits evil to flourish in this world. The Lord elucidates the perennial problem of evil for Jacob and us in three distinct genres and at three different levels of abstraction: at a metaphysical level in a philosophical patriarchal blessing, at a concrete level in the history of the emerging Nephite political economy, and in the Allegory of the Olive Tree.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940151566551
Publisher:	Interpreter Foundation
Publication date:	06/12/2015
Series:	Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture , #15
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	27
File size:	138 KB

About the Author

Val Larsen was born and raised in Moreland, Idaho. He earned a BA in Philosophy and English from BYU, an MA and PhD in English from the University of Virginia, and a PhD in Marketing from Virginia Tech. While teaching at Virginia Tech, Truman State University, and, currently, at James Madison University, he has published articles on Flannery O’Connor’s fiction, the Book of Mormon, and a wide variety of marketing topics.