theodicy
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of theodicy
1790–1800; theo- + Greek dík(ē) “justice” + -y 3 ( def. ), modeled on French théodicée, a coinage of Leibniz
Explanation
Ever wondered how God could allow ice cream to melt, bubblegum to lose its flavor, and all kinds of even worse things? Well, there's branch of theology called theodicy that defends God's goodness in the face of such evils. The term comes from a book called Theodicee (from the Greek word for God, Theos, plus the Greek word for justice, dike) written by the famous seventeenth-century German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Leibniz. In it he argued that our world was in fact "the best of all possible worlds." He didn't mention ice cream or bubblegum, though.
Vocabulary lists containing theodicy
The Diviners
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The Book of Job: A Biography
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
While not a detailed discussion of theodicy, or how a good God permits evil to exist, the computer-generated response is one most Christians could understand and accept, even if follow-up questions remain.
From Washington Times • Nov. 22, 2023
The philosopher Immanuel Kant concluded that theodicy should be detested by anyone with the slightest spark of morality.
From Washington Post • Jun. 26, 2022
I think, though, that Miranda is talking more about the omnipresence of change, and our need to interpret that change, than he is about theodicy.
From Salon • Feb. 19, 2022
But I couldn’t let “Disruption is a theodicy of hypercapitalism” pass.
From New York Times • Oct. 13, 2020
What has a theodicy to say as to these facts?
From Theology and the Social Consciousness A Study of the Relations of the Social Consciousness to Theology (2nd ed.) by King, Henry Churchill
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
