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RS > Problem of Evil > Flashcards

Problem of Evil Flashcards

1
Q

What are the two types of evil?

A
  • Natural evil e.g. disasters

- Moral evil e.g. humans

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2
Q

What is the logical problem of evil?

A

If God is omnipotent and omnibenevolent logically evil and suffering should not exist

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3
Q

Why is evil logically a problem for the religious believer?

A

It questions the nature of God and can be quite painful to know suffering exists with an all loving God

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4
Q

Any solutions to this logical problem?

A
  • God is not omnipotent and can’t control evil

- Evil is due

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5
Q

What are the key ideas of Augustine’s theodicy (soul deciding) ?

A
  1. God is omnipotent and all good
  2. Creation good and perfect
  3. Evil is not a substance/ a privation
  4. Freewill- evil is with the agent
  5. The Fall- hierarchy of beings: angels, humans and animals
  6. Origin of moral evil
  7. Original sin
  8. Natural evil- disharmony in the world follows the fall of angels
  9. Aesthetic value of evil
  10. Planned redemption
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6
Q

What is privation?

A

Defines evil as privation which means when we sue words such as ‘bad’ and ‘evil’ we are saying that something does not meet our expectations of what, by nature, it should be like, Augustine wrote ‘evil is not a substance’ - Augustine confessions

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7
Q

What are the key criticisms of Augustine’s theodicy?

A
  1. The challenge from science
  2. Logical problems- how could a perfect world go wrong
  3. God’s responsibility for natural evils
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8
Q

What is the challenge from science?

A
  • Big Bang challenges God as a creator of universe

- ‘Seminally present’ in Adam. Biologically it is impossible for sin to b e passed on genetically

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9
Q

Explain how could a perfect world go wrong?

A
  • Scheliermacher (German Philosopher). It is impossible for evil to create itself out of nothing. If God created the world then he must take full responsibility for his creation?
  • If Adam & Eve were perfect, without any knowledge of good and evil. Any evil is from God
  • John Hick- ‘a flawless creation would never go wrong’- God takes full responsibility of evil
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10
Q

Explain God’s responsibility for natural evils?

A

Augustine argues that God is responsible for everything and, second that suffering is punishment for the sin of Adam. Doesn’t fit with the belief of a merciful God.

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11
Q

What is Irenaeus theodicy (soul-making)?

A
  1. Attributes to God- is all good and omnipotent
  2. The universe and the earth develop over time- creation is embryonic
  3. Human beings are created in an imperfect state- evolve from ‘image’ into the ‘likeliness’ of God
  4. Soul-making
  5. Value of freewill
  6. Jesus
  7. Suffering and the soul-making process- two key purposes of suffering
  8. Epistemic distance
  9. Universal salvation
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12
Q

What is the free will defence?

A

Since God has created humans who are free to make their own moral decisions

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13
Q

Why does Swinburne support the free will defence?

A

He argues that God can never intervene in human freedom, otherwise human responsibility and development would be compromised

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14
Q

What is Mackie’s objection to the free will defence?

A

That free will entails the potential of evil. He argues that God cannot be omnipotent and all loving since he could have created a world in which humans are free but always choose good.

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15
Q

What is John Hick’s response to Mackie’s objection?

A

He argues that if God had designed humans so that they always choose good, not be truly free (like robots)

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16
Q

What is Peter Vardy’s major criticism of the free will defence?

A

Fails to explain the natural evils in the world which is often independent of any actions of humans and cannot be controlled by them

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17
Q

How does Augustine account for the origins of evil?

A

All evil come from moral choices. ‘Evil comes from God’ because God causes us to exist and keeps us in existence

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18
Q

How does Augustine explain suffering in the world?

A

Original sin creates disharmony. The consequence of disharmony lead to suffering in the world. God created good, perfect world but moral choices lead to evil in the world

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19
Q

What is meant by ‘seminally present’ in Adam and how this is linked to the problem of evil?

A

Humans are worthy of the punishment of evil and suffering because we are “seminally present in the loins of Adam” deserving the punishment for original sin

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20
Q

What is the aesthetic principle in Augustine’s theodicy?

A

The existence of evil highlights the goodness of creation because of the contrast between good and evil.

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21
Q

How does Irenaeus interpret the story of the Fall in the Garden of Eden?

A

Literally

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22
Q

According to Irenaeus, why and how does God punish Adam and Eve?

A

God punishes them like a parent punishes a child to help them grow and learn from their suffering

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23
Q

Why do people experience suffering? Irenaeus

A

Human beings can grow and learn from their suffering

24
Q

How does Irenaeus view the incarnation of God as Jesus?

A
  • Jesus’ incarnation brings God’s presence in human life, helps to unite humans with God.
25
Q

How does Irenaeus view salvation of God?

A

Salvation from God is open to all, but he also states that God judges everyone at death

26
Q

How does John Hick find Augustine’s theodicy unconvincing?

A
  • Taking the bible literally of the Fall is unconvincing
  • Rejected the mythology of the garden of Eden story because role of mythology is to examine some of the great mysteries of human existence
27
Q

Hick argues that they are two stages of development go human beings, what are they?

A

Image and Likeness

28
Q

What is meant by “image”?

A

Evolution of human beings not from peaceful garden of eden but from struggle to survive

29
Q

What is meant by “likeness”?

A

Need to develop the content of God; virtue and wisdom

30
Q

Why does John Hick reject Augustine’s view that humans were created perfect?

A

If humans were in God’s presence, all their free will would be removed. Human beings would be overpowered but the presence of God and incapable of any choice

31
Q

How does Hick view the Fall?

A

Is a myth. Unlikely that’s it’s true and probably didn’t happen. Rejects Augustine’s interpretation of the Fall

32
Q

What is epistemic distance?

A

Not spatial distance but in terms of knowledge between God and humans

33
Q

How does Hick view suffering?

A

Live in a world that we can make our own choices about how to behave and these choices help us to develop good habits “greater goods”

34
Q

What does Hick think about natural disasters?

A

Transforms ourself from “image” to “likeness”

35
Q

What is the eschatological aspect of Hick’s theodicy?

A

Everyone saved and be in the presence of God after death. If person not ready for presence of God, post-death soul-making can continue in a state like purgatory

36
Q

Suggest three problems with the idea that Hick’s argument that we reach eternal salvation after death?

A
  • People can do wrong in this life but doesn’t matter after death.
  • Free will is removed because destiny is predetermined
  • Justice in Christianity is seen to treat people as they deserve but eternal salvation is unjust
37
Q

How can God can be criticised for such an act for natural disasters to occur?

A
  • Is God all-loving for allowing this?
  • is natural evil really necessary?
  • Could “greater goods”- the ‘ends’ be achieved through ‘means’ which involve less suffering
38
Q

According to Hick’s theory, why might God be accused of believing in ‘the end justifies the means’?

A

It seems as though God using natural disasters and moral evil (the means) justifies the end- faith in God and the soul-making process

39
Q

Explain how Kant and Ivan Karamazov would explain the ‘end never justifies the means’?

A

Both feel that you can never use a person as a means to an end and suggest that there could be other ways in which humans can flourish

40
Q

Hick’s idea of an epistemic distance is meant to help us live and act freely. How might this distance be criticised?

A

If people knew God existed (no cognitive distance) they would be less likely to misbehave, since they would fear punishment and divine retribution

41
Q

What is Augustine’s theory?

A

Soul-deciding

42
Q

What is Irenaeus theory?

A

Soul-making

43
Q

What is Jesus an example of for Irenaeus?

A

Someone who has undergone the soul-making process.

44
Q

What is the soul-making process?

A

Evil was an essential means to bring transformation about- helps people grow and develop

45
Q

What are the two stages of creation (creation is embryonic)?

A

Phrase 1: the ‘image’ (form) and

Phrase 2: the ‘likeness’ (content) of God

46
Q

What are the key differences of Augustine to Irenaeus?

A
  • Creation is good and perfect
  • Privation of good
  • Planned redemption
  • Original sin
47
Q

What are the key differences of Irenaeus to Augustine?

A
  • Epistemic distance
  • The image (form) and likeness
  • Greater goods
  • Vale of soul making
48
Q

What are the similarities of Augustine and Irenaeus?

A
  • Jesus
  • Free will
  • The Fall
  • Judgement- heaven and hell
  • Evil is with an agent
  • Takes Genesis literally
49
Q

What is protest theodicy?

A

Puts God on trial. It emerged largely from Jewish theological responses to the Holocaust. They are angry with God for failing to intervene at times of suffering

50
Q

What does John Roth, a supporter of Protest theodicy think?

A

John Roth: freedom is God’s gift. but it is both too little and too much. Therefore God bears ultimate responsibility for evil.

51
Q

What does Elie Wiesel say about protest theodicy?

A

Suffering is meaningless- is never a privilege

52
Q

How is the evidential problem different from the logical problem?

A

Differs from logical problem since this is mostly a problem for theists trying to reconcile the belief in God with evil. Evidential problem rejects God’s existence, since evil counts as evidence against God’s existence e.g. rock of atheism

53
Q

What are the hypothesis of the evidential problem?

A
  • (Hypothesis 1)- that there is an infinitely powerful, whooly good God who created the world or;
  • (Hypothesis 2)- there is no such God- evil is good evidence against the existence of God
54
Q

What does David Hume response about the existence of evil?

A

The inconsistent triad -the existence of evil is clear evidence in favour of the second hypothesis

55
Q

What is Aquinas response to the problem of evil?

A
  • God’s goodness is not the same as human goodness- the problem of using language to talk about God
  • Suffering is a mystery- part of God’s plan

RS (22 decks)

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