A mechanistic metaphysic is combined with a sentimental account of God, in this way the pagan assumption that god or the gods are to be judged by how well it or they insure the successful outcome of human purposes is underwritten in the name of Christianity. It is assumed that the attributes of such a god or gods can be known and characterized abstractly. But the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is not the god that creates something called the problem of evil; rather, that problem is created by a god about which the most important facts seem to be that it exists and is morally perfect aswell as all=powerful – that is, the kind of god that emperors need to legitimate the ‘necessity’ of their rule.