The Problem With Evil: Aquinas and Dostoyevsky

St. Thomas Aquinas disputation De Malo, otherwise knows as On Evil was available in 1275-1280. ( Aquinas 12). The problem of Evil reaches into every aspect of the theologians investigations; therefore, Aquinas’ disputations were relevant to his teaching career in the Dominican order. In the first article he asks, “Is evil an entity?” (Aquinas, On Evil 55) In his “On the Contrary,” Aquinas refers to St. Augustine’s commentary on the prologue of St. John, Augustine’s work the City of God. He concludes by saying that Evil cannot be an entity. The argument is characteristic of Aquinas’ tight and terse logic. According to Augustine “that evil is not a nature, but the lack of good took on this ascription” (Aquinas, On Evil 57). Secondly, Aquinas uses divine revelation to bolster his argument. He quotes St. John by saying, “All things were made by him.” But the Word did not cause evil, as Augustine says.