Paragraph 4: John Hicks - Vale Of Soul Making Flashcards by Rita Poku

Ireanen theodicy :

Why did irenaen argue that God allows evil and suffering to exist and purposely created good with evil ?

So we can develop and grow as human beings into mature beings, to have a free realisations up with God so need evil to appreciate good and make moral decisions

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Irenaen theodicy:

Why if everything was good will this be bad ?

Not learn anything and we can grow through tackling problems

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Irenaen theodicy :

Where does Hick come into irenaen theodicy?

Hick developed an irenaen theodicy of soul making theodicy

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What 2 things Irenaen theodicy : soul making theodicy believe about evil

Evil is part of character development and evil is an opportunity to help theists to explain why God allows suffering and evil as it shapes the world towards perfection

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First critism of soul making deciding theodicy ?

not everyone can gain good character development
God is perfect, powerful and loving so why did he create an imperfect world where people need to develop

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Theists like Christians use irenaen theodicies as a clear link to what ?

To Genesis where God creates humans both in his image and in his likeness

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Irenaen theodicy : soul making theodicy,

How is True likeness chosen ?

True likeness is chosen, so we must have free will in order to choose to be like God can’t be given
free- will and evil are part of this process

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What did Hick do about his about his reworking and develop out of ireanen

Developed own irenaen theodicy and took free will as a his staring point for considering the problem of evil

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According to hick : SMT

to have a complete and genuine relationship with God how must free will be ?

Must be complete and genuine

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According to Hick: SMT

How does true freedom entails the possibility of suffering and evil

If we are truly to have all possible choices then all possible consequences are possible and therefore divine inaction from God

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According to Hicks: SMT

what is divine inaction ?

God does not stop or intervene in Evil and suffering

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According to Hick:SMT

what did hicks believe we have between God and humanity ?

Epistemic distance

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According to Hick: SMT

What is epistemic distance ?

Gap in knowledge between us and God that gives us the space we need to use our freedom fully and humans inability to know God fully

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According to Hick: SMT

What is epistemic distance ?

Gap in knowledge between us and God that gives us the space we need to use our freedom fully and humans inability to know God fully

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According to Hick: SMT

What did hick believe in ?

Instrumental good - idea something is good for a purpose

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According to Hick: SMT

Why does hick sees the world as instrumentally good ?

The world is instrumentally good for development in Gods likeness. There is suffering and evil but this is instrumentally good for development in Gods likeness

According to Hick: SMT

What is Hicks famous phrase ?

‘Vale of soul-making’

According to Hick: SMT

What is step 1 is the ‘vale of soul making’ ?

We are made in Gods image, but must develop into his likeness

According to Hick: SMT

What is step 2 of the ‘vale of soul making’ ?

In this vale of soul making we must have to try to come to a fuller knowledge of God
(Overcoming the epistemic distance )

According to Hick: SMT

What is step 3 of ‘vale of soul making’ ?

This is only possible with free will we must freely choose a relationship with God
God consequently entacts divine inactive

According to Hick: SMT

What is step 4 of ‘vale of soul making’ ?

We must respond as God would to suffering and evil

According to Hick: SMT

What is step 5 of ‘vale of soul making ‘ ?

Our response to suffering and evil develops our virtues such as compassion and charity helps us to develop and grow as people

According to Hick: SMT

How does hicks view hell ?

Temporary place where you develop your character not eternal.
hell for hicks is where character development
Evil for hicks allow us to prepare universal salvation of Heaven

AO2:

Strength 1 : evil as a tool

Hicks approach overcomes weakness of Augustine theodicy
evil isn’t privation but evil is tool used by God to develop and make our character into his image and likeness to be instrumentally good
therefore does not rely on inherent sins or seminal presence to justify evil

AO2 : Retort of Philips of evil as a tool

D Z Philips rejects the idea that evil is a tool because it suggests that God was immoral using evil as a tool to create a greater good. - if God is all good and perfect then problematic for God to use evil - suggesting that there is a greater good in the *screams of the innocent*

AO2: Hicks response to Phillips retort

- Hicks is aware that much suffering seems dystelelogy (pointless) - hicks is not trying to justify evil and suffering - but we are eventually saved through ultimate salvation means in the end this will bring greater good - so hicks looks beyond suffering for a bigger picture (ultimate salvation)

AO2: Strength 2 : free will and development

Free will recognises that true virtues do not simply get given someone they must be developed by free will

AO2: Mackie retort to free will/development and Always choosing good

- J L Mackie rejects hicks view of free will, despite his accepting that free will is better than automata world - Mackie states that God could have created free creatures who always do right - If humans choose good why can’t they always choose good - not logically impossible

AO2: What is Hicks response to Mackie retort ?

- Hicks and Swinburne rejects this ideas - accuse Mackie of not fully understanding free will - true free will has the risk of suffering even in large quantities - if God only gives us the freedom to dominate good so we don’t harm others then we live in a toy world where choices don’t matter

AO2: Strength 3: universal salvation

- Universal salvation seems closer to understanding a God who is omnibenevolent as it - helps to overcome the logical problem of evil of how evil and suffering forms development for greater good of humans - all will be saved by universal salvation if we are in Gods likeness

A02: Swinburne retort to universalism

- Swinburne finds universal salvation problematic because what is the point of behaving immorally if we will ALL go heaven at the end - for Swinburne, true free will must include hell and to take ourselves to hell ourselves - *HICKS ARGUMENT THAT ESCHATOLOGICALLY we will all be saved through universal salvation, it is a contradiction to Christian understanding of heaven and hell

3 strengths of HICKS SMT

1. SMT more in line with modern understanding of evolution whereas STD moves us away from perfection but SMT moves us towards perfection by free will 2. SMT allows a non literal approach to Genesis WHERAS Augustine takes a literal interpretation 3. Gives purpose to natural evil which STD can’t explain

What are the 4 critism of HICK: SDT

1. Why is the epistemic distance between humans and God such a great Gap. Surely we could close our knowledge and understanding of God and the world could contain less suffering and evil 2. Hicks does not explain imbalance of suffering and evil among social groups e.g ethnicity,gender, class 3. Babies or some disability are unable to use suffering as developmental way 4. Surely another way to develop human character in likeness of God, why would a Perfect God use evil as tool (instrumental good) to achieve this