'Providence and the Problem of Evil' is the final instalment of Richard Swinburne's four-volume philosophical examination of Christian doctrine. In it, he offers an answer to one of the most difficult problems of religious belief: why does a loving God allow humans to suffer so much?

This book offers an answer to one of the most difficult problems of religious belief: why does a loving God allow humans to suffer so much? Swinburne argues that God wants us to learn and to love, to make our choices about good and evil for ourselves and others on our own, to form our characters in the way we choose, and, above all, to be of great use to each other. If we are to have all these choices and commitments, then there will inevitably be suffering for the short period of our time on Earth. This controversial work concludes Swinburne's acclaimed four-volume philosophical examination of Christian doctrine.

Swinburne's procedure is to examine one by one the various goods that the world promises, and then to argue, with his customary care and rigour, that none of these goods can logically occur without the possibility of the related evils which in fact we experience.