irenaeus' theodicy & Hick Flashcards
Irenaeus was a greek bishop noted for his role in…
guiding and expanding Christian communities as well as the development of Christian theology
evil and goodness in world
world is deliberately created w/ a mixture of goodness & evil… So we can develop & grow in goodness & character as human beings into a mature & free relationship w/ God
Evil is necessary to know good
- can we appreciate the warmth of the sun unless we knew what it meant to be cold in the winter?
[quote by Irenaeus “how if we had no knowledge of the contrary…”]
has to be evil in order to appreciate good - w/out death & suffering wldn’t learn need for goodness & repentance -
“𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲, 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝” - Irenaeus
Suffering leads to growth
[quote by Friedrich Nietzsche]
problems, trials, suffering are all part of God’s original intentions for the world - evil is put by God for our growth & development [“𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞, 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫”]
Not puppets
when God created humans’ in his image and likeness this included FREEWILL - If God hadn’t given freewill, wldnt be in his image - but like puppets pre-programmed to do only what God wished
[Irenaeus] God’s image – God’s likeness
[genesis 1:26 “Let us make man…”]
“𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐮𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬” [𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝟏:𝟐𝟔] Irenaeus argues there’s a distinction between the two [likeness & image] Humans are MADE in God’s image but we have to GROW into his likeness & in order to, we have to develop & mature & reach our potential
removal of free will, with God repeatedly intervening
If God stepped in every time a person made a mistake to prevent evil, this’d remove our free choice, and humans wldnt learn from their mistakes
Mother feeding new born [analogy]
it is in the mother’s power to give ‘strong’ food to her baby, but she doesn’t - as the child isn’t able to receive more substantial nourishment; similarly man doesn’t receive this ‘perfection’ from God due to being as yet an infant
[irenaeus] becoming unto God’s likeness after death
In this world humans are incapable of being in God’s likeness, only happens after death - an essential part of his theodicy is that every1 shld comp. their spiritual development & maturity in order to become the likeness of God
Suffering [is] God’s plan…
example of Jonah
Like Jonah (as) suffering in the belly of the whale - ultimately all for the good- even if we cannot see the reason for it, shld be understood that suffering is necessary to bring us closer to God & enable God to fulfil His purpose. Evil is LOGICALLY NECESSARY if there’s to be good
[Ireanaus] The story of the Fall in the Garden of Eden…
[a situation in which humans go astray from God]
interprets it LITERALLY [irenaeas] - he places the blame on the serpent, and argues that if God did not save humanity, then serpent wldve triumphed over God & humanity wldve abandoned him [God]
Instrumental good
[example of a knife]
something’s goodness depends on its purpose. A world with no pain wld be v good in itself, but not for making us better people or soul-making. a good carving knife is good for carving cooked meat - such knives obtain their goodness from how suited for their purpose they are
[Hick] Vale of soul-making & dysteleolgical evil
[earthquake example]
world is desrcribed by Hick as, ‘a vale of soul-making’, [from a reference in a letter of Keats] It makes little sense to argue that an earthquake is good in itself if it hurts people. More sense to argue it is good for something, in the opportunities it creates for people to become. Hick himself still recognises the problem of purposeless or dysteleological evil
God’s intervention
science & regularity
if no harm could come from any action, God wld need to constantly intervene. To keep such continual change [like the sharpness of a knife blade], nature wld have no regularity. W/out regularity, there wld be no possibility of science, since theories are constructed on the regularity of things. If there were no science, there wld be no explanation for anything
[Hick] Universal salvation
[problem of hell]
if all evil exists to produce good, then the concept of hell is unexplainable. Hick takes on a view that hell is purgatorial - a place of temporary suffering. [Since it wld be unjust if everyone went to heaven] He claims that further opportunity is given for soul-making. Which fits the view of a God of love and mercy
