MA Thesis Defense: Travis Barnett

‘All the luster and light: Malebranche on the problem of moral evil and the image of God’
Travis Barnett (Cal State Long Beach)
07 Mar 2025 •  2:00pm–4:00pm  •  MHB–915

Abstract: To refute the problem of moral evil, Nicolas Malebranche employs a version of the greater-goods defense known as the felix culpa (‘fortunate fall’ or ‘happy sin’), which maintains that God permits sin through the biblical fall in order to bring about a higher-order good. While scholars agree that Malebranche holds this greater good consists in divine glory, produced by the Incarnation and the restoration of humanity, they often misunderstand two key elements of it. Firstly, they wrongly maintain that Malebranche views moral evil as a necessary condition for bringing about the incarnation. And secondly, they either deny or overlook that the image of God metaphor plays a central role in Malebranche’s defense. This thesis seeks to address these misunderstandings by offering a novel interpretation of Malebranche’s solution to the problem of moral evil. More specifically, it establishes that moral evil, although not a necessary condition for engendering the incarnation, is God’s chosen instrument for achieving the greater good he seeks and that the image of God metaphor is an essential feature for understanding humanity’s place in bringing about that infinite glory.

Oral defenses are open to the public.

For a draft copy of the thesis in advance, please contact Travis <travis.barnett01@student.csulb.edu> directly.