ABSTRACT
Someone familiar only with the writings of twentieth- and twenty-first-century philosophical theists might be surprised by how little attention the most celebrated of the medieval theists gives to the so-called “problem of evil,” at least as that problem is nowadays understood. As we shall see, it is even a matter of dispute whether Aquinas thought there was an interesting question to ask about how God could be morally justified in permitting the evil we find in the world. Still, Aquinas has much to say about the ontology, types, and causes of evil, and about evil’s relationship to God. His treatment of evil is found principally in select articles from the Summa theologiae, in select chapters from the Summa contra gentiles, in his collection of disputed questions De malo (On Evil), and in his commentary on the book of Job.
