Theme 2C: Irenean theodicy

Question 1

What are the two stages in the creation of the human race?

Answer 1

• Created in the image of God (Genesis), God brought into existence imperfect beings with the ability for moral and spiritual perfection
• Humans would grow into the likeness of God by developing over a long period of time into perfect moral and spiritual beings

Question 2

Why did God not create Humans in complete perfection?

Answer 2

• Attaining the likeness of God needs cooperation of humans
• So God had to give them free will
• Evil has a valuable part in God’s plan for humanity
• Freedom requires the possibility of choosing good over evil

Question 3

What biblical support is there for God not making humans in complete perfection?

Answer 3

’ Suffering produces perseverance, and perseverance, character and character, hope’

Question 4

What is essential to ‘soul making’?

Answer 4

Natural and moral evil

Question 5

What is second-order goods

Answer 5

• Moral goods that are a result of evil
• Allow us to develop into the likeness of God

Question 6

Why should God not intervene and stop evil?

Answer 6

• God would remove free
• God is he craftsman and humans are his material, he moulds us into perfect beings (craftsman analogy)

Question 7

What did Hick mean by evil as a means through which humans become ‘children of God’?

Answer 7

• God is partly responsible for evil in the world as it allows humans to become children of God
• God has sufficiently good reason for allowing evil so it does not threaten his loving nature
• Humans need to develop for themselves

Question 8

What did Hick mean by epistemic distance?

Answer 8

• God has chosen to place humanity at a sufficient distance to have awareness but not the certainty of God
• If Gods presence was imminent, humans would be overwhelmed by knowledge of Gods expectations

Question 9

What is the vale of soul making?

Answer 9

• Natural evil has a part to play in the process of soul-making
• If the world was a paradise, there would be no chance of ever causing harm, and every human action would result in happiness
• Without evil everyone would follow Gods laws as there would never be any difficulty doing so
• Courage, humour and love would be impossible