Creation and the Grammar of Evil

Although it is currently popular to revise the doctrine of God to better accommodate the problem of evil, this essay argues that such revision is mistaken. Rather than modifying the doctrine of God to account for evil as seen in process theology, the traditional notion of evil as privation of the good is advocated here. This grammar of evil articulated by Augustine and worked out by Aquinas is supplemented in this essay with eschatology as the most compelling account of creation.