I rather liked Scott Alexander’s theodicy. It felt satisfying to me. I don’t know if this theodicy has a name. Perhaps you could call it “garden of universes theodicy.”

My question is: Did Scott Alexander come up with a novel theodicy, or is this a pre-existing well-known/established/classical theodicy that you could learn about at seminary?

  • I'm unsure if its direct inspiration or convergent evolution but I've heard a few reconstructionist rabbis use the same or a similar model.

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    More basic ideas have existed in Judaism for a while that may have formed the basis of this theory, but none fully realizes it. See Genesis Rabbah 3:7, which says:

    Rabbi Judah bar Simon said: it does not say, ‘It was evening,’ but ‘And it was evening.’ Hence we derive that there was a time-system prior to this. Rabbi Abbahu said: This teaches us that God created worlds and destroyed them, saying, ‘This one pleases me; those did not please me.’ Rabbi Pinhas said, Rabbi Abbahu derives this from the verse, ‘And God saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good,’ as if to say, ‘This one pleases me, those others did not please me.’

    The rabbi of the Warsaw Ghetto has a field day with this quote.

    Also see Isaiah 65:17 (and Zohar 1:262b which negates that somewhat).

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    The rabbi of the Warsaw Ghetto has a field day with this quote.

    How so? Link?

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    He links Genesis Rabbah to the Isaiah verse, explaining that it is part of the sefirotic system. It's from Aish Kodesh but you can see it quoted in Nehemia Polen's book on the rabbi, 'The Holy Fire' on page 114.

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  • No; Unsong novel, theodicy epic.

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    Very good. I was thinking of suggesting the correction “Is Scott Alexander’s novel theodicy?” but yours is better.

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