THE PROBLEM OF EVIL - JEFF ASTLEY

Tuesday 30th September from 7.30pm - 9.30pm at The Sporting Lodge, Low Lane, Stainton, Middlesbrough TS17 9LW. (For directions click here)

The problem of evil, or suffering, is, for many people, the biggest obstacle to Christian faith. In a nutshell, it goes like this: if God was all-powerful and all-loving, he would prevent evil. If he cannot, he is not all-powerful. If he can but does not, he is not all-loving. As Christianity maintains that God is all-powerful and all-loving, Christianity cannot be true.

Jeff Astley has taught Philosophy of Religion (including ways of addressing the problem of evil) for many years. He will outline the classical approaches to the problem, and pave the way for discussion.

Jeff Astley was brought up with a nominal faith, which came alive in his first year as a Science student at Cambridge through contact with the Christian Union. Unlike most converts, he made connection with the chaplaincy rather than the more evangelical C.U., and at the end of his first year he transferred from Science to Theology, graduating (to his surprise) with a first.

He then undertook ministerial training in Birmingham, and worked in parish ministry, university chaplaincy and higher education. After completing his doctorate, he was appointed as Founding Director of the North of England Institute for Christian Education – a position which he still holds. Since 1981 he has taught at undergraduate and postgraduate level in the University of Durham, where he is now Honorary Professorial Fellow in Practical Theology and Christian Education.

He is the author or editor of thirty books on Christian education, practical theology or religious faith. His current research interest is in ‘ordinary theology’ – the religious beliefs of the non-academic, unchurched ‘man (or woman) in the street’.