Theodicy, RS HW
- Created by: Dulcimer
- Created on: 02-03-14 12:32
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- Theodicy of St Augustine and St Irenaus
- St Augustine
- Based on the narratives of Genesis 1-3
- Augustine’s theodicy argues that God created the world and it was perfect, without the existence of evil or suffering
- Genesis 1:31: “God saw all that he had made and saw that it was very good”
- Augustine defined evil as the privation of goodness, just as blindness is a privation of sight
- Since evil is not an entity in itself, just like blindness is not an entity in itself
- God could not have created it
- Since evil is not an entity in itself, just like blindness is not an entity in itself
- The existence of evil originates from free will possessed by angels and humans, who turned their back on God and settled for a lesser form of goodness
- thus creating a privation of goodness as the narrative of ‘the fall’ in Genesis 3 tries to explain
- As a result the state of perfection was ruined by sin
- thus creating a privation of goodness as the narrative of ‘the fall’ in Genesis 3 tries to explain
- Natural Evil
- Occurred because of the loss of order in nature, defined by Augustine as the ‘penal consequences of sin’
- Moral Evil
- Derived from human free will and disobedience
- Augustine reasoned that all humans are worthy of the punishment of evil and suffering because we are “seminally present in the loins of Adam”’
- deserving of the punishment for original sin.
- God has the right not to intervene and put a stop to evil and suffering since he is a just God and we are worthy of punishment
- It is by his grace and infinite love however, that we are able to accept his offer of salvation and eternal life in heaven
- Based on the narratives of Genesis 1-3
- St Iranaus
- Like Augustine, Irenaeus argued that evil is the consequence of human free will and disobedience
- However, unlike Augustine Irenaeus believed that God was partly responsible for evil and suffering
- Irenaeus argued that God created the world imperfectly so that imperfect immature beings could develop through a soul-making process into a ‘child of God,’ in his perfect likeness
- However, unlike Augustine Irenaeus believed that God was partly responsible for evil and suffering
- For Irenaeus, God could not have created humans in perfect likeness of himself because attaining the likeness of God requires the willing co-operation of humans
- God thus had to give humans free will in order for them to be able to willingly co-operate
- Since freedom requires the ability to choose good over evil, God had to permit evil and suffering to occur
- God thus had to give humans free will in order for them to be able to willingly co-operate
- Natural Evil
- Has the divine purpose to develop qualities such as compassion through the soul-making process
- Moral Evil
- Derived from human free will and disobedience
- Irenaeus concluded that eventually evil and suffering will be overcome
- humans will develop into a perfect likeness of God
- everyone will have eternal life in heaven
- humans will develop into a perfect likeness of God
- Like Augustine, Irenaeus argued that evil is the consequence of human free will and disobedience
- St Augustine
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