THE rare word "theodicy," not found in every dictionary, has a particular interest for Christian Scientists because Mrs. Eddy used it. (See "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," page 104.) It is also of particular interest to us because our Leader used it when analyzing the most baffling of all mysteries, the seeming existence of evil.
Originally, the word "theodicy" was coined by the philosopher Leibnitz in 1710, from Greek words meaning God and justice. According to dictionaries and encyclopedias, he endeavored to prove that "the existence of evil is a necessary condition of the existence of the greatest moral good." This quotation is from Webster's New International Dictionary. Of course, Mrs. Eddy did not concur in that view. She used the word in question according to its derivation, as adapted to other views of God's justice; and it has this broader meaning in dictionaries. Thus, the Oxford English Dictionary defines "theodicy" as follows: "The, or a, vindication of the divine attributes, especially justice and holiness, in respect to the existence of evil; a writing, doctrine, or theory intended to 'justify the ways of God to men.' "
Christian Science vindicates the divine justice in respect to the seeming existence of evil by acknowledging God as "the divine Principle of all that really is," as absolute good, and as "the only Mind." (See Science and Health, pages 275, 330, 339.) Further than this, Christian Science exposes evil by reducing it to error instead of true thought, to counterfeit thought for which God is not responsible. Then, Christian Science completes its theodicy by teaching that God's government for man involves his self-government and his complete freedom from evil. See Science and Health, pages 104, 106, 587, and notice that "government by divine Principle" is, in this view, equivalent to bliss, to nothing less than heaven. In short, the theodicy revealed by Christian Science separates evil from God and from man and excludes it from all being.
