Hick

Question 1

D.Z. Philips

Answer 1

1) if all evil doesn’t lead to some good, theodicy doesn’t hold up - God would be source of pain and suffering
2) Hick instrumentalises human suffering; means to an end- implies we should be happy about it; utilitarian and ego-centric, dismissive of suffering
3) will we continue developing in afterlife?
4) if god had planned our suffering from eternity, this could make god evil

Question 2

Gratuitous evil

Answer 2

If it exists, we have to admit that God is either indifferent or powerless to stop it; would render Irenaean theodicy useless

Question 3

Universal Salvation

Answer 3

Hick maintains a successful theodicy must be consistent with religious tradition- STEPHEN DAVIS points out the doctrine of hell is intrinsic to teachings

Question 4

David Griffin

Answer 4

two equivocations of the word evil and distinction between intrinsic and instrumental values
Hick doesn’t seem to believe in genuine evil
Griffin thinks that concept of epistemic distance involves ‘divine deception’

Question 5

Roth

Answer 5

we need to think of God as good but not good enough- he should be held accountable

Question 6

Whitehead

Answer 6

God evolves, changes are not immutable - he suffers alongside us; can’t be omnipotent and so doesn’t have the power to stop evil

Question 7

Plantinga

Answer 7

Argues God must necessarily allow moral evil

Question 8

Mackie

Answer 8

if free will exists why didn’t god make us kinder?
Hick responds: predictability of behaviour wouldn’t be acceptable to god, as there is no uncertainty over who chooses to follow him, but this leads to odd conclusion that God lets us make bad choices for his benefit rather than ours
2) If moral agents decide to do good sometimes, is it not possible for them to do good always?

Question 9

Ninian Smart

Answer 9

notion of goodness is empty if there is no such thing as temptation and hence no occasion to choose good over evil

Question 10

what is the word for purposeless and gratuitous

Answer 10

dysteleological

Question 11

Robert Mesle

Answer 11

if God intentionally created us as sinful because that is necessary for soul-making, then we are compelled to say that it is good that we are sinful
some people find their salvation not through their experiences but in spite of them

Question 12

explain the relevance of brothers Karamazov

Answer 12

by the time the characters reach salvation, the general is no longer the person he was before, and would no longer commit the crimes he had in the past, but he will be the same person who is haunted by his past actions, and wishes they never happened
o the general is far less happy than if he had never committed those crimes
o this regret is ‘genuine evil’, as it serves no one
o Hick acknowledges that there is suffering which reaches far beyond constructive character training

Question 13

what are the three types of genuine evil that hick acknowledges

Answer 13

1. excess of pain
2. pain which requires the person divine therapy before enjoying heaven - time cannot be made up
3. memories of shame, loss, grief
   - ->suffering leaves marks

Question 14

why does Swinburne argue that death is necessary

Answer 14

to ensure humans take their responsibility seriously - “if there is always a second chance there is no risk”

Question 15

schleirmacher on the inconsistencies of the augustinian theodicy

Answer 15

logical contradiction that a perfect world was created and then went wrong, since this implies that evil created itself ex nihilo

Question 16

name 6 differences between the augustinian and irenaean theodicies (BENROP)

Answer 16

A - blames humans for evil; I admits god should take responsibility
A relies on net-platonism
A - god will ensure that the sinner is punished in hell; I believes god created us to have a relationship with us
A - original perfection tainted boy the fall, I -evil will enable future infinite good
I rejects the fall’s ‘original sin’ and ‘collective guilt’
A - the saved and the damned, I - eternal hell rejected since Schleirmacher

Question 17

name 6 agreements between augustinian and irenaean theodicies (GOD HPW)

Answer 17

1. Heaven will make suffering incomparable
2. Fall and redemption were part of god’s plan
3. ‘O Felix culpa’ – fall worth it because redemption followed it
4. Need for spiritual and moral growth via suffering
5. Devil is peripheral to theodicy
6. The world is good

Question 18

what are the image and likeness of god

Answer 18

image - designates man’s intelligence which enables him to have a relationship with god
likeness - the final perfecting of humans by the Holy Spirit (we develop into the likeness of god)

Question 19

walk through what each Hick chapter is about

Answer 19

9, 10 Historical development of Irenean view - 10 is schleirmacher
11 Contrast and agreement between A and I
12 The soul-making theodicy
13 Moral evil
14 Pain
15 Suffering
16 The kingdom and will of god + residual problems

Question 20

what pages are each chapter

Answer 20

9: 201 - 218
10: 219 - 235
11: 236 - 242
12: 243 - 261
13: 262 - 291
14: 292 - 317
15: 318 - 336
16: 337 - 364
LOL WHAT IS MY LIFE WHY DID I NOTE THIS DOWN

Question 21

schleirmacher on original perfection

Answer 21

both objective and subjective
Objective: awareness of god through nature - still exists in the present
Subjective: when we are receptive to god acting towards us

Question 22

schleirmacher’s instrumental view of evil

Answer 22

in God’s created order, sin and evil lead to a greater good

Question 23

what is the traditional myth and what do we need to give it up according to Hick?

Answer 23

creation-fall-redemption-judgement

1. The scientific challenge - human ancestors had to suffer prior to Homo sapiens; this renders Augustine’s theodicy unscientific - a real Adam and eve counter our scientific origins
2. Moral challenge - punishing all of humanity for eve and adam’s sins is unjust and immoral
3. logical challenge - either god created a perfect world where evil cannot arise, or he created an imperfect one

Question 24

how does hick respond to Mackie’s criticism

Answer 24

analogy to hypnosis - the patient is under the impression that they are acting freely, and the resulting love and trust are inauthentic
–> the problem with mace’s criticism is that it does not recognise the christian view that god is seeking us to respond to him freely in faith

Question 25

what are hicks thoughts on our free will and character?

Answer 25

thinks there is an element of unpredictability in our action - our character is formed and re-formed in the moment of free decision

Question 26

why does hick think we are faced with a dilemma with a perfect world prior to the fall pertaining to the FWD? what does it then lead him to argue for?

Answer 26

“the creature’s fall is either impossible or else so very possible as to be excusable”

he then argues that there needed to have been epistemic distance for us to have sinned

Question 27

why does epistemic distance preserve free will?

Answer 27

the world is ‘religiously ambiguous’, since it both ‘veils god and reveals him’
in this way sometimes we see god and other times we don’t

Question 28

what does epistemic distance entail (2)

Answer 28

1. it makes it inevitable that humans will organise life apart from god
2. as humans evolved, so did the possibility of us becoming freely aware of god and choosing to love him

Question 29

hick on animal pain?

Answer 29

‘sentient nature supports and serves the human apex”

• ->animal pain plays a supporting role for humans
• ->this depicts animals as entirely instrumental and created for our use - traditional Christian argument for the superiority of human beings

Question 30

hick on a paradise without suffering

Answer 30

it would render useless all moral qualities

Question 31

what is the challenge of defining excessive suffering

Answer 31

god getting rid of excessive evils would just be moving goalposts - e.g. if god struck down hitler at birth, we would think Mussolini is evil incarnate)

Question 32

why must we appeal to mystery when it comes to suffering

Answer 32

if a world had no unjust suffering, sympathy and compassion wouldn’t exist

Question 33

why is belief in the afterlife crucial for theodicy

Answer 33

if there is a final resolution to suffering and evil, it must lie beyond this world - xn theodicy must point to an infinite future good which will render worthwhile all the pain that was endured along the way

Question 34

why is hell inconsistent with hick’s theodicy

Answer 34

eternal suffering endured in hell can serve no constructive end, and would make the problem of evil worse

Question 35

helpful analogies (2) in thinking about how god will free all humans from the bondage of sin

Answer 35

analogy by William James - a chess grandmaster playing a novice: the outcome of the match is assured no matter what moves the novice plays
Hick’s own analogy of god as a divine therapist - empowers the patient to be himself

Question 36

what do you call the belief that all people will be ultimately saved, and what does it rest on

Answer 36

christian hope; viewing god as a divine therapist

Question 37

what is hick’s intermediate state

Answer 37

similar to catholic purgatorial suffering
state where sanctification is continued, where we can continue to grow - no point in god sanctifying us the moment we die

Question 38

a problem of Hick’s view and heaven

Answer 38

if these evils are necessary to prepare us for heaven, how do we know they aren’t necessary during heaven? e.g. if there is no danger in heaven, courage becomes redundant - however, heaven can be a place where people live in a right relationship with god, but still have hardship

Question 39

what is the biblical paradox of evil

Answer 39

if evil is constructive, how can it be evil and contrary to god’s will for us?
in OT, evil is related to will of god, in NT evil is the enemy of god
here we see intermingling of evil that is sometimes divinely ordained, and others runs counter to god’s will

Question 40

what are the two attitudes to evil in the bible

Answer 40

monist view - god’s ultimate responsibility

dualist view - evil is the enemy of god and man

Question 41

what hope are we left to cling to

Answer 41

of ‘infinite future good’

Question 42

What is a theodicy?

Answer 42

An attempt to show that the existence of evil doesn’t rule out the possibility of god’s existence

Question 43

What is the Free Will Defence?

Answer 43

God maximised the goodness in the world by creation free beings. Being free means that we have the choice to do evil things. Evil can’t be avoided without denying us freedom.

Question 44

Moral evil?

Answer 44

Evil committed on purpose by humans

Question 45

Natural evil

Answer 45

Evil we’re not responsible for. The free will defence cannot resolve natural evil.

Question 46

Why is life harsh according to Hick?

Answer 46

‘The harshness of life, gives us a robust texture and character that wouldn’t be possible without an imperfect world’

Prepares our souls.

Question 47

The evidential problem of evil

Answer 47

We might be able to explain why evil exists but we cannot understand why so much evil exists. Why can’t we just have low level evils.