Good and Evil, Ancient Conceptions Of Overview of ancient religious and philosophical attempts to explain the existence of good and evil and to reconcile humanity’s experiences of suffering, death, sickness, wickedness, and injustice with the belief in a transcendent higher power or abstract ideal that was characterized by “good.” Although ancient Jewish and early Christian views on good and evil should be distinguished from the views of these other ancient religions, many of the ideas outlined below did inhabit and even influence the same historical and cultural context as that of biblical figures and/or the early church.

For information on the Bible’s discussion of good and evil and related topics, see these articles: Theodicy; Sin; Original Sin; Sin Offering; Righteousness.

For further details on the historical or religious context in the ancient world, see these articles: Christianity, Overview of Early; Mesopotamia, Religion of; Canaanite Religion; Egypt, Religion of; Zoroastrianism; Manichaeans; Hellenistic Religions; Roman Religions and the Imperial Cult; Mystery Religions; Heresy and Orthodoxy in the New Testament; Gnosticism.