Deusvolt Review of Oh, God! Book II

Oh, God! Book II (1980)

Not as funny as Book I but definitely deeper.

[6/10 · 29 September 2004]

Definitely not as funny as Book I but at least it dares to delve into the deeper problems of theodicy. The question which the little girl asks "God" (George Burns) in a key scene: "why bad things happen" should be in a FAQ portion of a theology syllabus. His answer, while ultimately unsatisfying, deserves attention. He said that in creating things, he never got the knack of not creating the opposite. You know: light vs. dark, joy - sadness, etc. It is an ancient question that has exercised the greatest Doctors of the Church, among them St. Augustine who argued that evil per se does not exist. Called the privatio boni argument, Augustine's contention is that what we perceive as evil is simply the lack of a particular aspect of good. For example, sickness is an evil because of the lack of health of the body. Naturalistic philosophies such as Taoism argue in the same vein - that evil is the result of not being in harmony with nature, with the Yin and Yang, seemingly contending forces or aspects of reality but which could not exist without the other. One would wish that "God" could explain further but alas! it is just silly old George Burns and his ridiculous cigar.