ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the problems arising over the role of doubt in the pursuit of these enquiries, doubt not only in the force of philosophical support for the beliefs but also arising from the attempted reconciliation of God’s providence and goodness with the suffering and evil which are endemic even in a world claimed to be divinely created. This requires thoughtful analysis (going back to Chapter 3) of the relation between faith and certainty, pursued with reference to the age-old philosophical attempts (for example, Augustine, Anselm and Bonaventure to begin with) to make sense of suffering and evil within a faith tradition – an issue which surely cannot be dodged in religious education and formation.
