KS Studies 2024, 1(2):49-60 | DOI: 10.32725/kss.2026.001

A Polemic with Kenneth Cragg on 'Divine responsibility' and Theodicy in Islam

Radislav Novotný

Faculty of Protestant Theology, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

This article critically examines Kenneth Cragg’s concept of ‘divine responsibility’ in relation to the problem of theodicy in Islamic theology. Cragg argues that Islam lacks a genuine theodicy because its understanding of God emphasises divine transcendence and sovereignty but lacks a corresponding sense of divine participation in the human condition. In response, this study contends that such a critique reflects the projection of Christian soteriological and Christological assumptions onto a fundamentally different theological framework.

Focusing particularly on the Qurʾānic concept of ẓulm (wrongdoing, injustice), the article analyses Cragg’s interpretation in dialogue with Christopher Lamb’s critique and the major currents of classical Islamic theology. Drawing on the works of Daud Rahbar, Eric Ormsby, Sophia Vasalou, and Frank Griffel, it examines Muʿtazilite, Ashʿarite, Māturīdite, and Ghazālian approaches to divine justice, human freedom, and the existence of evil. The study argues that Islamic theology does not deny the problem of evil but formulates it within a predominantly moral rather than ontological paradigm. Particular attention is given to al-Ghazālī, whose theological synthesis seeks to uphold both divine omnipotence and meaningful human moral agency.

The article further argues that Cragg’s notion of ‘divine responsibility’ introduces a category derived from Christian doctrines of divine participation, kenosis, and redemption that cannot readily be applied to the Islamic conception of God. Whereas Christianity often interprets divine goodness through God’s solidarity with human suffering, classical Islamic theology typically understands divine goodness in terms of God’s justice, wisdom, mercy, and absolute sovereignty.

The study concludes that Cragg’s claim that Islam lacks a theodicy results from applying Christian theological categories to an Islamic framework. Rather than lacking a theodicy, Islamic thought has developed a distinct practical and moral theodicy centred on divine justice (ʿadl), human accountability, the concept of ẓulm as injustice directed against oneself, and trust in God’s wisdom.

Keywords: Kenneth Cragg, theodicy, Islam, ẓulm, divine responsibility, divine justice, Islamic theology, Christopher Lamb, al-Ghazālī, Muʿtazila

Received: February 7, 2026; Revised: February 7, 2026; Accepted: April 13, 2026; Prepublished online: July 27, 2026; Published: July 29, 2026  Show citation