Evil is one of the deepest and most central problems of human existence - a problem that every individual and every age must face for itself. Our grandparents' generation faced the evil of Hitler and the Holocaust, our parents' generation that of Stalin and Communism. We face terrorism and suicide bombers. But perhaps the question is not that simple. How did Nazism arise in Christian Germany? Do we not do evil ourselves? In a world where millions of children starve to death every year are we complicit in institutional evil? What exactly is evil? The authors explore our changing approach to evil, particularly in the Western Christian tradition, and the different answers that have been given. They look at the way our current ideas are presented in popular film and literature, like "Star Wars", "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter". A wide range of great artists in the Western tradition is used to illustrate the way our understanding of these questions is fundamental to our humanity and our everyday behaviour.

Peter Vardy is Vice-Principal of Heythrop College, University of London, and is one of the best known philosophers of religion in Britain and Australia. His Puzzle series of books published by Harper Collins have been through many printings and are available in many languages. Julie Arliss is lecturer in religious Education at Richard Huish College, Taunton, Somerset.