word of the day!

I learnt a new word today. I'd heard it before but never had it defined:

"Theodicy is a branch of theology that studies how the existence of a good or benevolent God is reconciled with the existence of evil."

Some of the most interesting books I've read in the last year, including The Problem of Pain, Where Is God When It Hurts? and (one of my current reads) Disappointment With God might be defined as theodicies.

Does Jesus ever give a real theodicy in the Gospels? As far as I can see, he was mostly concerned with our response to, not our explanation of, evil and suffering.

Thoughts anyone?