Final answer:
The philosophical and theological debate centers on whether God is responsible for both good and evil, with some arguing that evil is part of a greater plan for soul-making, while others question divine justice in light of gratuitous evil and human failings.
Step-by-step explanation:
The discussion around whether God is responsible for both good and evil is rooted in various theological and philosophical debates. Verses from the Bible such as Isaiah 45:7 and Lamentations 3:38 suggest that both calamities and good things come from God. However, interpretations such as the Irenaean Theodicy, put forward by John Hick and Richard Swinburne, propose that the suffering in the world acts as a means to produce a truly good person, emphasizing soul-making. Additionally, St. Augustine argues that humankind is responsible for evil by being led astray by Satan, which led to a distancing from God, known as 'The Fall of Humanity'.
Furthermore, theological perspectives indicate that God prefers a world of free agents over a world of robots, implying that free will is valuable even if it results in the existence of evil. Theodicies, such as the Irenaean and Augustinian, defend the presence of evil by suggesting that it contributes to greater goods or the development of the soul, though the existence of gratuitous evil, or evil that leads to no good, remains challenging to these perspectives.
Ultimately, this complexity leads to questions about divine justice and mercy, especially regarding human failings known in advance by an omniscient deity. The debate continues as scholars and theologians seek to reconcile the existence of evil with the concept of an all-loving and almighty God.