Charles T. Mathewes

Unusually poor for a Great Courses video. The instructor uses often unnecessarily sophisticated terminology accompanied by a rapid-fire delivery that makes it difficult for him to be understood. While this might not be so much a problem in a classroom where he has eye-contact with students and can get an idea when something is going over their heads, it's a real detriment in a video presentation. I'm far from unsophisticated in philosophical and theological terminology, but I had quite a few show more "what's that" moments even notwithstanding that I was rereading City of God to accompany these lectures. A more casual viewer could find this going over his head – and really unnecessarily so. show less

This is the first Teaching Company course where I had trouble getting the key points to stick with me. It's not because the content is lacking. To the contrary, it's so deep that this one is too profound to listen to during a commute. I believe you'd have to sit in a quiet room and really listen for the deepest points to take root. It's still a thorough exploration that goes well beyond why evil exists to also analyze how we interpret evil and how we deal with it.

This book was generally very readable and I particularly liked the second part, which focused on our day-to-day lives politically. I also appreciated his description of the tension between being a Christian and a citizen in a liberal society.