THE PROBLEM OF EVIL: The Augustinan Theodicy Flashcards
What does Augustine say in ‘Confessions’ and ‘De Genesi ad Litteram’?
Evil and suffering don’t disprove Gods existence because He is good, created a perfect world, evil is the going wrong of good and evil didn’t come from God but the human misuse of free will
What did Adam and Eve’s disobedience cause?
Humans lost their immortality and were (and still are) punished with suffering and evil
Humans now have original sin seminally present so are prone to being immoral
Jesus saved believers though
How does nature disprove the Augustinian Theodicy?
In nature suffering is vital for survival- things die so others might survive. God must have made the world this way
Seminally present isn’t biologically sound
Evolution challenges the creation story
Who is Schleiermacher? Where does he criticise the Augustinian theodicy?
German theologian
‘The Christian Faith’
How does Schleiermacher criticise the Augustinian theodicy?
Perfect world gone wrong
If God created a perfectly good world then it could never go wrong
Either the world existed with evil initially or God enabled it to go wrong- God to blame
Criticisms of the Augustinian theodicy?
God is unjust in allowing humans to be punished for Adams sin
Hell contradicts an all loving God
If Hell was part of the universes design and God knew the world would go wrong anyway, why did he allow it to happen?
Strengths of the Augustinian theodicy?
The Bible said the world was made perfect and that humans decided to sin
We have to choose good/evil every day so it’s not incomprehensible to suggest evil came as a result of the misuse of free will
An omnibenevolent god wouldn’t create a world with evil
