HICK'S SOUL-MAKING THEODICY

Question 1

ST AUGUSTINE [SOUL-DECIDING
THEODICY

Answer 1

All humans are born sinful (Original Sin)
because they ‘inherit’ sin from Adam & Eve, who ate from the Tree in the Garden of Eden (The Fall). This explains the cause of evil and suffering - humanity!

We therefore depend on God’s grace in order to be saved from our sin. This is in the form of Jesus Christ’s atoning crucifixion on the cross. Not everyone is saved.

Question 2

ST IRENEAUS (SOUL-MAKING THEODICY)

Answer 2

Humans did not ‘Fall’ from perfection - God intentionally created us imperfect.

This is because, throughout our lives in this world, we will ‘grow’ into perfect beings who are capable of entering heaven, if we follow the teachings and example set by Jesus Christ. We develop and grow through the soul-making process into ‘children of God’.

Question 3

HICK’S SOUL-MAKING THEODICY

Answer 3

-John Hick is inspired by St Irenaeus, who argued that humans are created imperfect and then have to ‘rise to perfection’ and work towards achieving the ‘likeness’ of God during their lives on earth.

-The world is a place of soul-making. It therefore has to contain the full range of moral and natural evils, so that humans can develop virtues such as courage, sympathy, empathy and compassion.

-These second-order virtues are the qualities by which we become ‘children of God’. Our suffering - and response to it - makes us virtuous and Christ-like. Evil and suffering are instrumental.

-He emphasises the idea of God as a Father - a Father cannot force his children to love him; instead, children love their parents through a free response to their parents’ care. Parents develop their children’s character by teaching them how to live responsibly within the world.

-God set an epistemic distance between himself and humanity - this is a distance in knowledge, so that humans cannot know for sure there is a God. There is therefore a lot we don’t understand, such as why evil and suffering exist. This means that having a relationship with God is a CHOICE, reflecting the fact a loving relationship is only authentic and valuable if it is freely chosen.