In many lectures and books what is called 'the problem of evil' belongs to pure philosophy or to theology. It may be formulated as the question: Is the proposition 'God exists' logically compatible with the proposition 'evil exists'? It is an obvious mistake, and one often made by philosophers, to limit the problem in this way; but it is equally a mistake to dismiss the intellectual problem as remote from life, for sense must be made of life if we are to cope with it emotionally and engage in efficacious action.