Evil can be classified into two forms, moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil is caused by poor choices that arise from our free will. Natural evil is bad things that happen to people, whether they deserve them or not. The problem with evil is: “Either we must say that God is not entirely good, and that he allows or even is the author of evil. Or we must say that God is not omnipotent and, although he is entirely good and would prevent evil if he could, he has no power to stop it.” (Fitzgerald 340). This is a significant problem for revealed religions because they believe in a totally good and omnipotent God. Why then would this God allow evil? In this article I will provide, explain, and evaluate St. Augustine of Hippo's solution to this question. Augustine believes that evil arises from choice and free will. He does not see evil as its own being, but as the absence of good. Everything that is, since it comes from God, is good: “The supreme good, than which there is nothing superior, is God, and consequently He is an immutable good, therefore truly eternal and truly immortal. All other good things come only from Him, not from Him.” (Bourke 48). Evil is just a perversion of this good. Since all things are made by God, they are only good in the beginning. Evil comes into play when this innate good is corrupted. Augustine said, “For what is what we call evil if not the absence of good?” (Bourke 65). He defines evil as: “… that which is evil, which is nothing other than corruption, whether of measure, or of form, or of order, which belongs to nature. Therefore corrupt nature is called evil, because certainly when it is uncorrupted it is good; but even when it is corrupt, as it is nature it is good, as it is corrupt...... middle of paper ......ns. Saint Augustine gave us the best known and accepted solution to this age-old problem. His view that evil is an absence of good makes logical sense. Since God created us in His image, shouldn't we have some part of us, however small, that is incorruptible good? It places the blame for evil on our free will. This means that God was not the creator of evil and could be both entirely good and omnipotent. Augustine also addresses the issue of bad things happening to innocent people. All your arguments seem valid to me. The Church was also very accepting of his points. Therefore, I would say that he found a great solution to the problem of evil. Works Cited Bourke, Vernon J. The Essential Augustine. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1974. Fitzgerald, Allan D. Augustine Through the Ages. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999.