The starting point for Abelard's ethics is that of his theological system itself: the bold principle, announced in the Theologia Summi Boni, and frequently reiterated in later writings, that when Christians speak of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, what they are talking about are the power, wisdom and goodness of God. From this assertion, it follows that one of the theologian's central tasks in trying to understand God, in so far as he can be understood, will be to investigate these divine properties. Abelard sees them as each posing one particular main question, and in each case the answer he gives is ethical in content or bearing. In connection with God's power, he asks whether God can do more things or better things than he in fact does. By considering the relation between God and ethical values, Abelard's treatment of this question provides a basis for his whole discussion of morality; whilst by answering in the way he does Abelard gives to his theological system its underlying ethical structure. God's wisdom raises another question central to ethics: if God foreknows all things, how is human free will possible? Abelard's treatment of these two questions will be the subject of this chapter. God's goodness poses for Abelard the problem of theodicy: why, in a world ordained by a good and omnipotent God, is there evil? Abelard's answer – discussed in the next chapter – brings in his general study of the meanings of ‘good’ and ‘evil’. It provides the link between his thought about ethics in connection with God and his thought about human morality.