Thank you for your kind words, LB! Your question is addressed in Thomas Flint and Alfred Freddoso’s impressive treatment of omnipotence, “Maximal Power,” which you may find reprinted in my anthology Philosophy of Religion: a Reader and Guide (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002). I’d really encourage you to read their article for yourself, as I’m sure you’d find it helpful and interesting.
What Flint and Freddoso point out is that omnipotence should not be defined in terms of ability to do certain tasks. This is the presupposition of your question. Rather omnipotence should be defined in terms of ability to actualize states of affairs. Under this conception, your question then becomes whether omnipotence entails the ability to actualize the state of affairs God’s doing an evil act.
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