THE PROBLEM OF EVIL: The Irenaean Theodicy Flashcards
Who is Irenaeus?
Early church father and apologist
His writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology e.g. Against Heresies
An apologist is someone who offers an argument in defence of something controversial
Where is the Irenaean theodicy found?
Against Heresies
How does Irenaeus think God created the world?
Imperfect so that humans and the world can develop into perfection. You can’t experience courage without fear for example
How can humans develop into perfection?
Iranaeus
Willing cooperation with God and responsible choice making. Humans had to thus be granted free will
Therefore God had to permit evil
What two states of being could humans develop from to be perfect?
Iranaeus
Image of God (capacity to be civilised and rational)
TO
Likeness of God (morally good and spiritually developed)
Why is moral and natural evil necessary?
Iranaeus
Through struggles with evil we nature and develop spiritually
The world is a place of soul making
Criticisms of the Irenaean theodicy?
Suffering doesn’t always result in positive human development- some people choose not to develop
Why are there such extremes of suffering? Do such really produce good? God could’ve made a world with other ways to grow morally
British philosopher D. Z. Philips: love can never be expressed by allowing suffering to happen
Animal suffering not accounted for
Unacceptable to do bad to achieve good- God creating an imperfect world for a higher good is bad
What is strong and weak about universal salvation?
- if everyone goes to heaven, what’s the motivation to be moral?
+ no one goes to hell. So, the claim that hell defeats the concept of a loving God is defeated (doesn’t comply with the Christian view of hell though)
Strengths of the Irenaean theodicy?
Biblically based- genesis; imago dei
Shows why God allows evil
Accepts evil as part of the world; it’s necessary
Provides a goal for humans to strive towards
Supports the idea of gradual human development (evolution)
The ends justify the means as everyone ends up happy in heaven
Who is John Hick?
British philosopher
Theologian
Major work is ‘evil and the God of love’
Where does Hick explain the modern Irenaean theodicy?
The vale of soul making
‘Philosophy and Religion’
For Hick, why did god have to allow humans to develop for themselves?
If God made humans perfect, they would have the goodness of robots- not loving
What is epistemic distance?
Hick
God keeps a distance from humans so as not to overwhelm them
What is the counter factual hypothesis?
Hick
If God interferes then humanity can’t develop
For Hick, why did God have to create humans at an epistemic distance?
So they would have a choice whether to believe and freely choose good or evil
For Hick, why did the world have to be imperfect?
Humans need to be free to choose evil
In a perfect world only good would happen
Evil allows humans to develop positive qualities (Hicks soul making)
For Hick, what is the perfect world?
Something humans have to create together and look forward to in the future
God didn’t make the world perfect
For Hick, what is universal salvation?
Everyone will be worthy of a place in heaven at some point
Those who still aren’t worthy at death will continue life in some form (e.g by reincarnation) until they’ve earned their place
Hicks development of the Iranaean theodicy doesn’t address animal suffering as animals can’t develop spiritually. Response?
Pain warns animals of danger
Animals don’t fear death
Animals have to suffer to an extent that is beyond our understanding so that we question God in order to choose whether to pursue a relationship with him
Hicks development of the Iranaean theodicy talks about the concept of epistemic distance. This doesn’t resolve pointless evil. Response?
Gods plan must remain a mystery otherwise we wouldn’t freely choose a relationship with him
Hicks development of the Iranaean theodicy doesn’t justify the worst evils. Response?
If the worst evils were removed then something else would become the worst evil. The more that evil is removed, the less free we would become
