Theodicies 3.2 Flashcards
What are the 3 ‘parts’ of Augustine’s theodicy?
Free will
God’s love
Privatio boni
Define manichaeism as part of Augustine’s theodicy.
God is omnipotent, but the dark of evil and sin disrupts the pleasure and light of his good creation.
What is Augustine’s principle of plentitude?
God created the world for a tree to live and grow to its full potential. Just because it can’t walk doesn’t mean it it suffering.
What is the free will part of Augustine’s theodicy?
Evil came when beings that had free will turn their back on God and settle for lesser goods.
‘The fall’ - Adam and Eve ruined the state of perfection God created…disharmony.
Adam and Eve chose to be in disharmony = original sin.
Because of original sin, the peaceful state of the garden can’t be restored.
Natural evil is due to loss of order.
Moral evil is due to disobedience.
What is the God’s love part of Augustine’s theodicy?
God was right not to intervene and stop suffering.
God was just in allowing the suffering to result from the Fall as it was fair punishment for humanity’s sin.
Following God = eternal life, reject God = eternal torment.
God has infinite love as he sent Jesus to die.
God isn’t responsible for evil, humans brought it themselves.
What is the privatio boni part of Augustine’s theodicy?
Evil is the privation of goods. We use such words as ‘evil’/bad when something doesn’t meet our expectations of what, by nature, it should be like.
Evil itself is not a thing, God did not create it. The universe is good and it was created that way.
What are the criticisms of Augustine’s theodicy?
Evil is more than just privatio boni.
Why did the fall happen? - creation is perfect yet fell to sin = contradictory!
What is Irenaeus’ theodicy?
Humans were created Imago Dei…we are in an immature moral state, though we have the potential for moral perfection.
Throughout our lives we change from being human animals to ‘children of God’. This is a choice made after struggle and experience as we choose God rather than our basic instincts - no external forces at work in our decisions!
God brings in suffering for the benefit of Humanity - from it we learn positive values and about the world around us.
What 3 things does Irenaeus’ Theodicy say suffering and evil are?
Useful as a means of knowledge - awareness of evil causes humans to seek to reduce its consequences.
Character building - evil offers the opportunity to grow morally. Swinburne says: We would never learn the art of goodness in a world designed as a complete paradise.
Predictable environment - the world runs to a series of natural laws, independent of our needs that operate unconditionally. Natural evil is when these laws conflict with our perceived needs.
What does Irenaean Theodicy say about the Afterlife?
Heaven and hell are important as part of the process of Deification, of the lifting up of Humanity to the Divine. This process enables humans to achieve perfection.
What are the criticisms of Irenaean Theodicy?
It is not orthodox Christianity…it denies the Fall, and Jesus’ role is reduced to that of a moral example!
Do natural disasters really provide opportunities to do good in practice?
Why do some people get more than would seem to be their fair share of suffering?
Hume - Could our world not be a little more hospitable and still teach us what we need to know?
Swinburne - our suffering is limited by our own capacity to feel pain and by our lifespan.
