theodicy

Meaning

Noun

• A justification of a deity or of particular attributes of a deity; specifically, a justification of the existence of evil and suffering in the world; a work or discourse justifying the ways of God.

Origin

• Borrowed from French théodicée, from Ancient Greek θεός ("god") + δίκη, coined by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in his 1710 work Essais de Théodicée sur la bonté de Dieu, la liberté de l'homme et l'origine du mal (Essays of Theodicy on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil), commonly known as Théodicée.