1.5 Problem of Evil

Question 1

what is the evidential problem of evil?

Answer 1

the sheer amount of evil in the world makes it improbable that a God of monotheism exists. Gratuitous evil not only exists but is abundant.

Question 2

what is William Rowe’s argument for the evidential problem of evil?

Answer 2

• There exists intense suffering which an omnipotent, omniscient being could have prevented without thereby losing some greater good or permitting some evil equally bad or worse
• An omniscient, wholly good being would prevent the occurrence of any intense suffering it could unless it could not do so without thereby losing some greater good or permitting some equally bad or worse
• Therefore there does not exist an omnipotent, omniscient, wholly good being

Question 3

what example does William Rowe give for the evidential problem of evil?

Answer 3

• natural evil: the case of Bambi, fawn stuck in a forest fire and suffers a slow and agonising death
• moral evil: the case of Sue, real event in which a five year old girl in Michigan was severely beaten, raped and then strangled to death on New Year’s day in 1986

Question 4

what did Stephen Fry say to show natural evil in the world?

Answer 4

“How dare you create a world in which there is such misery that is not our fault? It’s not right.”
“bone cancer in children? What’s that about?”
““Yes, the world is very splendid but it also has in it insects whose whole lifecycle is to burrow into the eyes of children and make them blind.”

Question 5

how do open theists attempt to argue against the evidential problem of evil and what is the issue with it?

Answer 5

• God created humans to have an object of love and be loved in return
• we can only express true love if we have free will
• if God has knowledge of our future actions then we do not have true free will
• He has therefore purposefuly removed knowledge of the future, leaving it open ended so we can have free will

God isn’t really TTWNGBCBC if he lacks knowledge in any way. It also seems to be contradicted by Psalm 139:3 “even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it all”.

Question 6

what are the criteria of a theodicy

Answer 6

• used to defend against the evidential problem of evil
• it must be logically coherent and plausible in the modern age
• in Milton’s words it must ‘justify the ways of God to men’

Question 7

what are the greek origins of the word theodicy

Answer 7

theos = God
dikaios = justification

Question 8

where does Augustine’s soul-deciding theodicy appear?

Answer 8

in the City of God part II

Question 9

what is Augustine’s soul-deciding theodicy?

Answer 9

• everything falls short of perfection due to the Fall leading to a loss of harmony in nature and therefore natural evil
• people continue to fall short and this leads to moral evil
• all humans deserve to be punished for Original Sin and their continuing sinfulness as we are descendants of Adam and Eve
• God is fair and cannot interfere with our free actions
• he did send Jesus to earth to give people the opportunity to go to heaven
• a world with evil and genuine free will is better than a world without choice

Question 10

what are the major weaknesses to Augustine’s theodicy?

Answer 10

• it requires a reading of Genesis that isn’t widely accepted by Christians today and is challenged by evolution
• humans being eternally punished for the actions of Adam and Eve just seems unfair and doesn’t even work with our biological understanding of reproduction
• it also just doesn’t make sense to say all things were made perfect by God and then went wrong, if something is perfect it shouldn’t be able to just ‘go wrong’ and if it did then why?
• saying newborn babies already deserve to suffer because of Original Sin seems a bit weird icl

Question 11

what is Augustine’s understanding of evil?

Answer 11

privatio boni
a privation of good

Question 12

what are some strengths of Augustine’s theory?

Answer 12

• the idea of privation makes sense and emphasises the ultimate goodness of God
• 20th century thinker Herbert McCabe said a bad deckchair is not the same as a bad grape, the declchair may be bad if it collapses when you sit on it but that wouldn’t make a grape bad
• therefore privation is the idea that something is bad if it falls short of our expectations for it
• evil does not mean God has fallen short of our expectations; we have

Question 13

what is the Irenaean theodicy?

Answer 13

• whereas Augustine placed emphasis on evil as punishment, Irenaeus saw evil as opportunity (died around the year 200)
• evil is in the world to help people develop their characters
• God’s likeness is something we need to achieve and grow into through the development of our characters

Question 14

how did Hick rework the Ireneaen theodicy?

Answer 14

• free will must be complete and genuine so we can have a proper relationship with God
• with true freedom comes the possibility of consequence
• epistemic distance gives us the space we need to use our freedom fully
• made the distinction between instrumental good (something that is good for a purpose) and intrinsic good
• this world is instrumentally good because it is good for our development into God’s likeness
• Hick used the phrase a ‘vale of soul-making’, the world is a place whose purpose is to make souls

Question 15

what did Hick think hells purpose is?

Answer 15

• thought that the idea of hell contributes to the problem of evil as no good can come from a place of eternal suffering
• he instead saw hell as a place of cleansing where further soul making can take place before humans go on to heaven especially as people die at different stages of their soul making process

Question 16

what are some strengths of Hick’s approach?

Answer 16

• overcomes many of the weaknesses of Augustine’s theodicy, evil is a tool of God not a result of Him failing to anticipate the effects of free will
• it is in line with modern understandings of evolution and allows a non-literal approach to Genesis
• it recognises true virtues are not just given to someone but must be developed
• universal salvation seems more in line with a God who is omnibenevolent
• it gives a purpose to natural evil that other defences find difficult to explain

Question 17

what are some weaknesses of Hick’s theodicy?

Answer 17

• why does the epistemic distance gap have to be so great and suffering be so intense?
• his approach doesn’t take into account the suffering of animals which some would say is equally important
• universal salvation has issues, if you knew that no matter what you did you would eventually end up in heaven that might have some worrying effects
• it also seems to undermine what Jesus achieved through the resurrection
• why would God use evil as a means to an end

Question 18

what is Wykstra’s parent analogy for the evidential problem of evil?

Answer 18

• likens our knowledge of God like a parent with their one month year old child
• the child might think that not being fed on time or not being able to sleep in unimaginable evil, the parent is doing what is best for the child but the child is not able to know
• given our cognitive limitations, we are in no position to judge God

Question 19

what is a biblical quote to show we cannot fully understand God and his ways?

Answer 19

Romans 11:33-34
“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord?”

Question 20

how did J.L. Mackie criticise Hick’s theodicy?

Answer 20

said, as God is omnipotent, a world could have been created where humans have free will to choose both the good and the bad option but they always choose the good

is this really free will then…?

Question 21

what is the logical problem of evil?

Answer 21

argues that the mere existence of evil in the world proves that God cannot exist

Question 22

what was Epicurus’ argument for the logical problem of evil?

Answer 22

Willing but not able
Able but not willing
Able and willing
Then why is there evil?

200BC philosopher therefore talking about a monotheistic god not the God of Christian understanding.

Question 23

what was J.L. Mackie’s arguments for the logical problem of evil?

Answer 23

the inconsistent triad
- god is omnipotent
- god is omnibenevolent
- evil exists

all three cannot be true at once

Question 24

how did Plantinga aim to defend God’s existence against the logical problem of evil?

Answer 24

the defence of free will
- basically again just that God wanted to be loved and love in return so we must have free will
- if God eliminated evil then he must eliminate good as well
- can be seen through the case of ‘Mrs Jones’ who lets her son go through the small pain of being vaccinated with a needle to protect him from polio

Question 25

what is an issue with Plantinga’s defence?

Answer 25

he explains only moral, not natural evil

Question 26

Eleonore Stump

Answer 26

theodicy of love
- Offers a narrative approach, emphasising the importance of love and relationship in understanding why God allows suffering

Question 27

DZ Phillips

Answer 27

• takes a Wittgensteinian approach
• arguing that traditional theodicies misunderstand the nature of belief in God and the role of religious language

Question 28

Leibniz

Answer 28

• best of all possible worlds theodicy
• Suggested that despite the existence of evil, our world is the best possible world that God could have created because it leads to the greatest good

Question 29

Draper

Answer 29

argues whilst some suffering may serve a greater purpose the level of gratuituos suffering is just too high