The Many Faces of Evil: Theological Systems and the Problems of Evil Book

Like most of the things I've been reading lately, this was a required text for a graduate course.

This book is quite comprehensive. To give you an idea, I'll provide a brief sketch.

One of Feinberg's primary goals in this book is to get the point across that (1) there are more than just one problem of evil and (2) how anyone deals with any one of those problems will depend on their particular theology.

The book is written from a Christian perspective. Feinberg is himself a moderate Calvinist, but he deals fairly with other theological systems (Hick, Leibniz, Theonomy) and draws competently and in detail from a broad range of theist and non-theist literature. Which, to that end, reading this book is so much more valuable if, either, (a) you already have a solid grasp on the relevant POE literature or (b) read the literature in conjunction with this book. Another, perhaps more useful option, would be to read broadly in important POE literature (Mackie, Plantinga, Rowe, Schlesinger, Reichenbach, Wykstra, Adams, etc.) and then re-read it as you read this book.

Unless, of course, you're already an expert in the area, to which I probably have nothing of value to add.

This is not easy to read at times, mostly because of the detailed unpacking Feinberg does for many of the arguments. But that just makes it all the more valuable.