In his essay, “Nonmoral Nature”, Stephen Jay Gould examines nineteenth and twentieth natural theology and its explanation of the existence of evil in nature. Natural theology, as Gould puts it, is “the antiquated doctrine that attempted to infer God 's essence from the products of his creation”. Natural theologians believed that God displayed his benevolence through his creations and attempts to find an explanation for the events that occur in nature. Gould discusses this way of reasoning through the question: “If God is benevolent and the Creation displays his “power, wisdom and goodness,” then why are we surrounded with pain, suffering, and apparently senseless cruelty in the animal world?” By pain and suffering, Gould refers to the act of predation found in carnivorous species. In nature, predators inflict pain upon their prey through their actions. William Buckland, a theologian, argued that predation is necessary for reducing the inevitable suffering that victims would experience with old age and also to helps maintain population and food resources. Gould uses the predatory behavior of the ichneumon wasp to argue against this natural theological justification. He argues that the cruelty in which the parasitic ichneumon wasp implants it young into living prey contradicts this statement, comparing the event to that of medieval torture. He argues that natural theologians’ attempt to justify the actions of the ichneumon wasp by applying human emotions and intentions is