Gennaro Duccilli in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Photo: Wikipedia Commons

N o one feels called upon to explain, or explain away, his good deeds or qualities, which are taken to arise from his essential being as naturally and irresistibly as a river from its source, but most people feel the necessity when it comes to their bad deeds or moral failings. That is why the problem of evil is so much more compelling than the problem of good, for evil—especially one’s own—is assumed to be against the natural order of things. Ever since Rousseau, man has been born not with...