274. Robin Collins: Connections are Good? Explaining Why God Allows Evil

·1 hr 1 min·5 clips

Robin Collins, the fine-tuning expert, explains why God might allow evil through eternal connections of love and suffering.

The episode features an interview with Dr. Robin Collins, a distinguished professor of philosophy at Messiah University, primarily known for his work on the fine-tuning argument for God's existence. Collins explains his connection-building theodicy, developed while teaching the problem of evil, which posits that God permits evil to enable virtuous responses that forge eternal connections between people. These connections, based on acts like helping, forgiving, or self-sacrifice, gain ongoing value through memory and conscious participation, potentially outweighing the evil required for them. Collins contrasts this with other theodicies like free will or soul-building, noting it avoids some of their problems. He addresses objections, including negative connections and extreme evils, suggesting that even horrific suffering can be redeemed through empathy and afterlife healing. The discussion covers hell, with Collins advocating for universalism based on New Testament interpretation, and practical implications, such as how the theodicy encourages building positive connections through daily actions like generosity. Collins also links the theodicy to broader themes like religious diversity, evolution, and cultural interconnection, arguing it provides explanatory power for why God uses indirect means like human evangelism. The episode concludes with Collins referencing his article in the Blackwell Companion to the Problem of Evil and encouraging further reading.

As heard by us

A careful test of whether human connection can illuminate the problem of evil without making suffering easy to explain.

Robin Collins takes on a hard problem in philosophical theology: whether the bonds people form can help explain why God permits evil. As a professor of philosophy at Messiah University, Collins builds a connection-centered theodicy around empathy, courage, and forms of…

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You want a careful challenge to the idea that connection could help explain why God allows evil.

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