Problem of Evil

Epicurus

Epicurus

'Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able to? Then he is not omnipotent. Is God able to prevent evil, but not willing to? Then he is malevolent. Is God able to prevent evil and willing to? Then why is there evil?'

Natural Evil

Refers to events that have bad or evil consequences when experienced by humans.

Moral Evil

Used by philosophers to refer to evil events or acts that are caused by human beings choosing freely to do the action in question.

Mackie

"If God is really omnipotent, then he must have power over all 'causal laws'"

Brothers Karamazov

Examples of Children and animals being tortured/suffering - exploring why a loving God would allow this to happen

Omnibenevolent

All loving

Omnipotent

All Powerful

Inconsistent Triad

How can God be omnipotent and omnibenevolent when evil exists

Privation

lack of something

Theodicy

an attempt to reconcile the existence of an all-loving omnipotent God with the existence of evil

Augustine

solves the problem by stating that God is responsible for evil in the world by defining evil as 'privation' 'Evil is not a substance'

Herbert McCabe

Bad grape/Deckchair Badness and evil = not living up to an expectation. Something lacks a quality it should have

Augustine bases his explanation on

Genesis 3 and Romans 5

Genesis 3 shows

Suffering is a result of disharmony = Adam and Eve ate from the tree

hierarchy of beings

God Angels Man Animals

Natural Evil

'Fallen angels' turn away from God and bring disharmony - this leads to natural evils, because of disharmony they cause in nature

Original Sin = moral evil

Garden of Eden characterised by a state of harmony. Suffering is a result of disharmony. Adam and Eve had a choice. They choose not to be in harmony with God. The cause of Moral Evil!

Point of free will

Allowing evil to happen is a price worth paying for human freedom. It means God allows evil. No free will would remove all the good choices. Contrast between good and evil highlights beauty of goodness

Soul Deciding

we choose to turn back to God and be moral

Strengths of Augustine

The idea that evil can arise when people exercise free will fits with what we see around us. It is based on the bible and does not contradict the scriptures Evil is not originally part of God's creative work

Weaknesses of Augustine

Concept of evil being a privation yet not part of God's creation is illogical. People who are suffering may not find this theodicy convincing as pain is real. Evil appears from nowhere

Free Will Defence

We are to know a genuine love for God, it must be freely given. This is why freedom of the will is so important to Augustine. Augustine argues: For a world with the evils that follow from free will is better than one without it

Irenaeus

Evil serves a purpose

Genesis = literal

Adam and Eve made in the image of God. Image = form of God - in intelligence, morality, personality. Grow into the Likeness = content of God

The serpent is to blame because

Adam and Eve like children in their maturity - lack wisdom to make the right choices. They are not being rebellious

Punishment: Irenaeus

Punishment had to be given - just like children need punishment from parents and boundaries - in order to develop a sense of morality

Process of Learning

Just like Jonah learnt repentance through his time in the belly of the whale

Vale of Soul Making

Suffering is a necessity - it helps us to grow and develop in character - to be more Christ-like. We grow into the likeness of God (moral perfection)

Swinburne

"we would never learn the art of goodness in a world designed as a complete paradise"

Evil and Suffering are

Useful as a means of knowledge. Hunger leads to pain. Knowledge of pain, leads us to help others

Epistemic Distance

express the idea that God's existence is not obvious and thus human beings are not overwhelmed by God's presence into believing in God

Free Will

Throughout our lives we change from being human animals to 'children of God' in his likeness This is a FREE choice, made after struggle and experience

Jesus

The incarnation of God in Jesus unites human beings with God once again. Jesus is the Saviour of human beings. Irenaeus argues that Jesus is the new Adam who obeys God and dies on the cross and thus undoes the fault of Adam

Eschatological Aspect

Believed salvation was available for all - but we have free will to choose - so some will go to heaven and some hell

Universal Salvation

Hick suggests that everyone will be saved.

Recapitulation

'bring something back to the head or beginning'; it also means to 'summarise or sum up something'. Irenaeus' theodicy is about bringing people back into relationship with God.

Process Theodicy

It is based on the premise that God is NOT omnipotent

Whitehead describes God as...

'fellow sufferer who understands'

Why Process Theology works

Removes stumbling block of an all-loving and all-powerful God. God suffers - believers feel God understands pain and suffering. No certainty of God triumphing in the end - believers encouraged to join in fight against evil

Why Process Theology doesn't work

It is not a REAL theodicy. Remember a theodicy aims to justify an all-powerful God in the face of evil. Instead this denies the God of classical theism