Theodicy meaning (what is it, concept and definition)

What is Theodicy:

Theodicy is a part of philosophy that is responsible for explaining and demonstrating, in a rational way, the omnipotence of God, his attributes and the existence of evil.

The word theodicy derives from the Greek theós , which means 'God' and díkē which is translated as 'justice', which is why theodicy is understood as the “justification of God”.

It should be noted that theodicy is part of natural theology, which is one that encompasses more general aspects such as discovering the evidence of God without relying on supernatural facts.

Theodicy and Leibniz

The term theodicy was created in the 17th century and was first used by the German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in his book Essay of Theodicy. About the goodness of God, the freedom of man and the origin of evil , also known as Theodicy .

However, some time later the French philosopher Voltaire ironized Leibniz's theodicy with the publication of his satirical novel Cándido .

Now, in said theodicy Leibniz presented his rational study on God, the freedom of man and the existence of evil. However, Saint Augustine already mentioned the theodicy long before Leibniz, who combines a series of philosophical and religious knowledge in order to justify both the existence of God and evil.

Likewise, Leibniz was concerned with clarifying in his book the existing contradictions about the relationships between spiritual beliefs about God and rational thoughts about nature and the injustices that human beings experience.

That is, the theodicy gathers and tries to answer all those doubts that are related to faith, reason, the spiritual, the natural, the good and the bad considering, especially, that everything was created through the goodness of God.

Hence, evil even justifies the existence of God in order to achieve the freedom of man. Therefore, Leibniz certifies that God created the best possible world.