In Evil and Many Worlds: A Free-Will Theodicy, William Hunt presents a unique approach to explaining how God and evil can coexist despite the abundance of moral and natural evils blighting our world, which imply that an omnibenevolent God is unlikely to exist. This theodicy is based upon Huw Everett III's many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, whereby reality is not what it intuitively seems; instead, it is a multiverse comprising a vast number of universes, and we simultaneously exist in many of them. This multiplicity of existence results in a balance of moral good and evil across the multiverse, and through this, the expression of free will-an attribute valued by both persons and God- flourishes. The theodicy explains the coexistence of God and natural evil through the necessity of an evolutionary process that ensures the emergence of free-willed persons. Notwithstanding this universal perspective of Creation, a resurrection possibility would mitigate individual suffering resulting from this divine holistic strategy. Hunt examines this possibility in light of the many-worlds interpretation.
William Hunt is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of the British Society for the Philosophy of Religion and the institute of philosophy at the University of London.
Preface Acknowledgements Introduction PART I: The Composition of Reality: Hidden Worlds Chapter 1: Quantum Mechanics Chapter 2: The Many-Worlds Interpretation Chapter 3: The Quantum Multiverse PART 2: The Problem of Evil: Defense Chapter 4: Deductive Arguments Chapter 5: Inductive and Abductive Arguments Chapter 6: Bayesian Arguments PART 3: A Free Will Theodicy: An Exordium Chapter 7: Alternative Theodicies Chapter 8: The Ethical Perspective Chapter 9: Free Will PART 4: A Free-Will Theodicy: Evil and Many Worlds Chapter 10: Moral Evil and the Quantum Multiverse Chapter 11: Natural Evil and the Quantum Multiverse Chapter 12: Resurrection and the Quantum Multiverse Conclusion Appendix 1 : Probability Theory Appendix 2 : Is God a Rule-consequentialist?: Bayesian and Total Probability Arguments Appendix 3: Propositional Logic: Notation and Rules Bibliography
"This book presents a theodicy based on the Everettian multiverse interpretation of quantum mechanics and discusses implications across a broad specter of topics-including quantum resurrection! Quantum mechanics and multiverse theory are topics that need to be explored much more by theology/philosophy of religion, and this book is full of creative new ideas worth reflecting upon. Especially interesting are the proposals on mind and brain, determinism, and free will, which one can learn from and accept regardless of whether one accepts the existence of a multiverse."--Atle Ottesen Sovik, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society
