augustine's theodicy Flashcards
Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430)
an early Christian theologian and philosopher whos writings influenced the development of Western Christianity and philosophy. He wrote books such as, ‘The City Of God’ and ‘The Confessions’
argued Bible shows that God is wholly good and according to Genesis 1, created a world perfectly good, and free from defect, evil & sufering
[quote ‘very good’ & Augustine confessions ‘taken singly…’]
- “𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐰 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝” [𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝟏:𝟑𝟏]
- “𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝.” [Augustine confessions]
- God created all things ____
- Evil is ___ good
- Therefore, God did not ______ evil
so, evil must be the going wrong of something itself made good
[quote nature of evil]
- good
- not
- create
“𝐄𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞; 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 ‘𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥’.”
Evil is the result of ___‘/_____‘ misuse of ________, resulting from Adam and Eve eating the fruit of knowledge and the angels following Lucifer i.e settling for lesser goods
- man’s/angel’s
- freewill
Misuse of freewill causes the downfall from perfection…
1. _____ evil is a result of misuse of freewill
2. _______ evil comes as a result of this misuse; the corruption of the order & harmony within nature
_______ is directly reponsible for the imperfections within the world
- moral
- natural
- mankind
Evil is the _________ of good (likewise darkness of light) Augustine said it was the ________, not God wherefrom evil came
As a consequence, the state of __________ was ruined by human ___ and delicate _______ of the world was destroyed
- privation
- sin
- entities
- perfection
- balance
God is ____. Therefore he has to allow us to face the punishment of sin, which is _____. But Augustine concludes if so, ever1 wld get their full and rightfull punishment in ____.
- just
- death
- hell
In his infinite love & grace he sent _____ to take the punishment for all of our sins and die on the cross so that all those who ______ & accept can be ______.
Humanity’s fate is decided by the offer of salvation as a result of Adam’s Sin.
- Jesus
- believe
- accept
- saved
For Augustine, we have ____ (voluntas), we can choose what we do. We have free choice and this is essential to being …
- will
- truly good
What is the ‘free will defence’? (defending God’s goodness)
responsibility for evil not being the consequence of any choice by God
‘Soul-deciding theodicy’:
augustine’s theodicy - sees evil as a test of goodness and faithfulness to God
strength (goodness of God)
cannot explain the goodness of God using our language; cannot make a judgement of God’s goodness as we have nothing to compare it with, and hence cannot measure it
strength (God’s justice)
God is just, therefore allows us to do what we want, in order to receive judgement accordingly
strength (exp of suffering)
Augustine’s approach fits with experience of suffering - Free will does cause the most suffering, e.g. drunk driving deaths
weakness (theism)
problems with the existence of evil for believers in God
