Problem of Evil
Philosophy Essay on the Problem of Evil and the Irenaean and Augustinian Theodicies.There are two main theodicies tackling the problem of evil and they are the Augustinian and Irenaean theodicies.The Augustinian theodicy is so called because it originates from St. Augustine (354-438). He approaches the problem of evil from different ways, he did a number of writings on the problem of evil including The City Of God and The Confessions. The main thought that St. Augustine had was that creation is good. He says that as God is the author of everything in the created universe, it follows that evil is not real, otherwise it would mean that God would have created evil which St. Augustine refused to accept. So for Augustine evil is not existent but he believes that it ought to exist. He says that evil can not exist in its own right. The criticisms of Augustinians theodicies are these; that modern science rejects the picture of fall of humanity perfection. Rather it suggests an evolutionary development. A literal approach seems to contradict modern science. Hence some have taken the book of Genesis as a symbol/myth depicting the fact that all humans do sin, by choice.That if humans are finitely perfect, then even thoug
He used the example of Adam and Eve to back up his point, because Adam was made in likeness to God but got expelled from the garden of Eden to mature/develop, i. He believed that humans were not created perfect but were made to develop and soon become perfect. Hell seems contrary to a good God, some argue that all humans are saved whilst other suggest annihilation rather that eternal suffering. Next is the Irenaean theodicy which is so called due to it being derived from Irenaeus (130-202) and his writings. For example cannot cooperation be learnt by teaming together to win a football match or does the team has to learn from its mistakes or the bad things that have happened? As a Christian theodicy, it seems o make the atonement unnecessary. The fall of humanity is seen as a negative within the second phase of the theory (likeness), an inevitable part of growing up and maturing. I think that if the everyday person had to choose which theodicy they would prefer I think that they would also choose the Irenaean theodicy because it is by far the easiest one to understand, but however different people have different views and many may prefer the Augustinian theodicy because people may go for the idea of evil being real. Maybe a more Christian approach would be to see the theodicy more in terms of 'faith-making' instead of 'soul-making'. He agrees with Irenaeus and agrees that God made humans not into the likeness of God but they have the ability to evolve to be in likeness to God. A number of criticisms involve suggestions of better ways to achieve the process. John Hick is probably the most similar philosopher to Irenaeus in recent day terms. It is hard to clear God from responsibility for evil as he chose to create beings he knew could have the ability to do evil, in other words God has to take some blame for evil as he was the one who created humans and he gave them the ability to do evil so he has to take some responsibility for it. Does the end justify the means? The suffering involved cannot justify the ultimate joy, for example in wars there is more pain and suffering for people than there is joy for people the negatives out way the positives. For example why does creation have to be done over a long drawn out period of time involving suffering for many, why did God not just click his fingers and then everything would be there? Equally if we have to go onto another life to reach our maturity why not just make our life spans much longer so then we could reach our perfect maturity here on earth instead of having to do it in our after life.
Common topics in this essay:
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John Hick,
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Maybe Christian,
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Augustinian Irenaean,
Augustinian Theodicies,
likeness god,
st augustine,
augustinian theodicy,
God Confessions,
irenaean theodicy,
modern science,
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ability evil,
pain suffering,
theodicy called,
fall humanity,
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