Rethinking the Problem of Evil in Contemporary African Philosophy of Religion

Résumé

African philosophers of religion have, recently, been preoccupied with the question of evil in a world created by a supernatural being who, apparently, could have eliminated evil or, at least, reduced it to the barest minimum, but did not do so. The question is: why did God allow evil in the world? Is he not omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent? Responding, two African schools of thought have woken to the challenge posed about God's omnipotence, omniscience and omnibenevolence consequent upon the reality of evil. The first, theistic, claims that God is perfect; and, is not the cause of evil; while the second, limited-God school, asserts that evil exists necessarily, therefore, cannot be eliminated by God, who is limited in power, knowledge and goodness. Employing the critical-analytical methodology of research, this article subjects the conflicting views to critical evaluation with intent of identifying their strengths and weaknesses. The article discovers that the theistic school fails to reconcile the idea of a perfect God with the reality of evil in the world, while the limited-God school risks conceiving a God so diminished that he could be stripped of divinit