Evil can be classified into two forms, moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil is caused by bad choices that arise from our free will. Natural evil is bad things that happen to people, whether they deserve them or not. The problem with evil is: “Or else we must say that God is not entirely good, and that he permits or even is the author of evil. Or we must say that God is not omnipotent, and although he is entirely good and would prevent evil if he could, he is powerless to stop it. (Fitzgerald 340). This is an important issue for revealed religions because they believe in a totally good and omnipotent God. Why then would this God allow evil? In this article I will provide, explain, and evaluate St. Augustine of Hippo's solution to this question. Augustine believes that evil arises from choice and free will. He does not see evil as a being in itself, but rather as the absence of good. Everything that is, since it comes from God, is good. “The highest good, beyond which there is no higher, is God, and therefore he is an immutable good, therefore truly eternal and truly immortal. All other good things come only from Him, not from Him. (Bourke 48). Evil is only a perversion of this good. Since all things are made of God, they start only from good. Evil comes into play when this innate good is corrupted. Augustine said: “For what is that which we call evil, but the absence of good? » (Bourke 65). He defines evil as “…that which is evil, which is nothing other than the corruption, whether of the measure, or of the form, or of the order, which belong to nature. Therefore nature which has been corrupted is called evil, for assuredly, when it is incorrupt, it is good; but even corrupted, so far as it is nature, it is good, so far as it is corrupted...... middle of paper ......ns. Saint Augustine gave us the most well-known and accepted solution to this age-old problem. His view that evil is an absence of good makes sense. Since God created us in his image, shouldn’t we have some part of us, no matter how small, that is incorruptibly good? He places the responsibility for evil on our free will. This means that God was not the creator of evil and could be both entirely good and all-powerful. Augustine also addresses the problem of bad things happening to innocent people. All his arguments seem valid to me. The Church also accepted his arguments very well. Therefore, I would say that he found a very good solution to the problem of evil. Works Cited Bourke, Vernon J. The Essential Augustine. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1974. Fitzgerald, Allan D. Augustine Through the Ages. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company., 1999.