• theodicy •
Pronunciation: thee-ahd-ê-si • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: A theory or discussion of how God in his goodness and justice can permit all the evil in the world.
Notes: Here is a word rarely used even though discussions of its subject are conducted frequently around the world. The adjective is theodicean; all other derivations are even rarer oddities. Cosmodicy is the justification of the goodness of the universe.
In Play: The most popular version of theodicy is the 'theodicy of misfortune': "Impoverished believers sometimes cling to the theodicy of misfortune, thinking that wealth and happiness will be theirs in the afterlife." Actual theodicies are several and varied: "Augustinian theodicy attempts to clear God of all responsibility for evil, blaming it on human free will. Irenaean theodicy casts God as responsible for evil, justifying it by its benefits for human development."
Word History: Today's Good Word was created by Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz in his 1710 work Essais de Theodicée "Essays of Theodicy". Leibniz combined Greek theo(s) "god" + dike "custom, justice" to create the French word, which English remodeled after borrowing it. Theos came from PIE dhes- "holy, sacred", which turned up in Sanskrit as dhisnya- "godly, holy" and Latin as feriae "holidays, festivals" and festus "festive, joyful". Dike goes back to PIE deik-/doik- "to show", which went into Sanskrit desayati "shows", Greek deixis "display", Latin dicere "to say, tell", English teach, German zeigen "to show, indicate", and Dutch zeggen "to say, tell". (Now we owe a grateful e-ovation to Tony Bowden of London for today's rare Good Word naming a common activity.)
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