Origen ultimately believed that evil exists because the soul is on a voyage to get back to God and Holiness. Sin, suffering, evil, and injustice are merely obstacles on the soul’s journey to purification. Furthermore, Origen presumed that because God is the Creator and the soul is supposed to journey back to the creator, God allows evil so that it causes the soul to return to Him. Or, as the author states, “[Origen] characterizes God as a Father, Teacher, and Physician who providentially designs the universe to arrest the fall of the soul and facilitate its ascent toward God. Even the apparent evils of the world, then, serve unforeseen providential ends, in his view.”6 Origen’s views about evil are directly correlated to his belief of universalism.
