HICK'S VALE OF SOUL-MAKING THEODICY

Question 1

what is a THEODICY?

Answer 1

a justification of the righteousness of God, given the existence of evil.

Question 2

summarise the main idea of Hick’s theodicy

Answer 2

-souls develop overtime
-humans weren’t created perfectly but are in the process of morally growing towards it.

Question 3

what does GENESIS say relating to Hick?

Answer 3

“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”

Question 4

what does Hick believe about image & likeness?

Answer 4

Image for Hick is having intelligence, morality & personality, but it is not yet complete. Completion is when humans are transformed into God’s likeness, they do this themselves (free will)

Question 5

why does Hick’s theory justify the existence of ‘evil’?

Answer 5

-God gave us free will to morally grow & develop into his likeness. Reach our full potential
-Hick argues we wouldn’t want to be robots!
-This potential also gives humans the chance to disobey God if they please. But God can’t compromise our free will for evil.

Question 6

define epistemic distance.

Answer 6

distance of knowledge between humans and God, so that humans can decide things for themselves.

Question 7

who originally began the soul making theodicy?

Answer 7

IRANEUS