How Leibniz would have responded to the Lisbon earthquake

Abstract

On 1 November 1755, the city of Lisbon in Portugal was virtually destroyed by the largest documented seismic event ever to hit Europe. At around 9.30 in the morning, the city was shaken by a violent earthquake that occurred in the Atlantic Ocean, around 100 miles south-west of Lisbon (current estimates put it at around 8.5 on the Richter scale). Around forty minutes later, the city was flooded by a tsunami, the first of three. In the areas that stayed dry there broke out numerous fires which raged for five days. The loss of life was huge-some estimates put the death toll at 10,000, others at many times that. It was a catastrophe almost of biblical proportions. As such, it invited speculation as to its theological significance, speculation that was heightened by the fact that, as the event occurred on a religious holiday (All Saints’ Day), many people had died in church, celebrating mass, while many others had died due to fires that had started on account of fallen altar candles.How did such an event fit into God’s plan? How could such an event fit into God’s plan? Indeed, did God even have a plan?.