1.6 Problem of Evil Flashcards
Features of Augustine’s theodicy
Privation
Original perfection
Variation
Free will
Privation
Evil is a privation of good
Original perfection
Everything made is good, but not good in God’s sense of it.
A scale of goodness.
If God makes everything good, evil must be a result of something good going wrong.
Variation
Two important events in Augustine’s theodicy: the fall of man and the fall of angels
Certain angels chose to reject God and Adam and Eve chose to reject God.
Free will
Augustine thought we could know good yet choose not to. We have free will (voluntas)
Features of Irenean theodicy
Creation Importance of evil Jesus Epistemic distance Life after death
Creation
Creation is embryonic - it develops over time.
Importance of evil
We were not created perfect as an infantile humanity was no deserving or ready for it.
Evil is necessary to give our actions consequences so we may learn morality.
Jesus
Jesus helps us to learn about morality
Epistemic distance
Epistemic distance allows us to have the chance to have a relationship with God.
Life after death
We must wait until the next world to become perfected in God’s love.
Features of Hick’s theodicy
Genuine freedom
Free will
Self-improvement
Genuine freedom
Places importance on genuine freedom - the only worthwhile relationship is one that is freely chosen.
Hick asks the world would be like if it were not like ours (meaningless/empty)
Free will
If God intervened there would be no self-chosen activity.
Self-improvement
Evil allows us to develop morally so that we can reach God’s likeness while being in His image.
