From Charles Kingsley again:
I was of course compelled, by the circumstances under which these Lectures were delivered, to keep clear of all points which are commonly called "controversial." I cannot but feel that this was a gain, rather than a loss; because it forced me, if I wished to give any interpretation at all of Alexandrian thought, any Theodicy at all of her fate, to refer to laws which I cannot but believe to be deeper, wider, more truly eternal than the points which cause most of our modern controversies, either theological or political; laws which will, I cannot but believe also, reassert themselves, and have to be reasserted by all wise teachers, very soon indeed, and it may be under most novel embodiments, but without any change in their eternal spirit.


theodicy - A term coined by Leibnitz to refer to a theoretical justification of the goodness of God in the face of the presence of evil in the world.

Ah ... so another form of begging the question, then!

I like this word. It gives me a good term to describe people who persist in thanking god for saving them from the tornado he sent in the first place: theodiot.

Dear Sparteye: the word to me suggested "Theo dicey"
"God doesn't play dice with the universe'' Albert Einstein
''God plays dice.'' Quantum Mechanics
''God sometimes plays the dice.'' Stephen Hawking

theodicy < Gk theos 'god' + dike 'order, right' (cf. L dico 'to say, proclaim').