Theodicy

The-od′i-cy

,

Noun.

[NL.

theodicaea

, fr. Gr. [GREEK] God + [GREEK] right, justice: cf. F.

théodicée

.]

1.

A vindication of the justice of God in ordaining or permitting natural and moral evil.

2.

That department of philosophy which treats of the being, perfections, and government of God, and the immortality of the soul.

Krauth-Fleming.

,

Noun.

[L. dico, to speak.]

The science of God; metaphysical theology.

theodicy ‎(plural theodicies)

A justification of a deity, or the attributes of a deity, especially in regard to the existence of evil and suffering in the world; a work or discourse justifying the ways of God.
- 2003, Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason, Penguin 2004, page 388:
  God was now nothing more than a distant cause of causes; what mattered was matter, and man acting in nature. The theodicy, the master-narrative, had become secularized.

a justification of a deity