At the beginning of the Summa Theologia, St. Thomas Aquinas, after having devoted one question to theological methodology,

then passes on to the first question which governs an Aristotelian science.

In order to consider a subject matter, you need to prove first that it exists.

And so Prima Par's question two is devoted to this question,

and the third article is the one that contains the famous five ways, or five proofs, for the

existence of God. St. Thomas is famous in each of the articles of the Summa Theology for first

entertaining objections to what he will in turn prove. And one of the objections to the existence

of God comes through with great urgency and it comes through with great kind of existential import.

He says simply that there is evil in the world and if it is the case that the God whom you claim

to exist is good, such a state of affairs simply cannot be reconciled

with the belief, and so we must deny the existence of God. Now, as we consider reconciling

a world in which evil exists and a God whom Christians claim is good, we need to be clear about how we approach the question,

our methodology. And I think there are two main options that lie before us, one which we can call

the contemplative and one which we can call the more accusatory. Here's a word from a Dominican

who was the son of the English province who lived in the last century.

He writes, when confronted by suffering, we are liable to two apparently contrasting reactions.

We may reject God as infantile as unable to comprehend or have compassion on those who suffer

and are made to suffer in this world.

On the other hand, we may find, as Job did,

that it was our own view that was infantile.

We may, in fact, come to a deeper understanding

of the mystery of God.

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