Studied by 16 people
A-level religious studies, problem of evil
what is Griffin’s theological approach
abandons revealed theology from scripture, doesn’t make sense
accepts common notions about human exists
don’t accept doctrine, instead find the most probable view
bible, church, tradition can’t guarantee the truth of Christian doctrine
process theodicy
rejects ‘ex nihilo’ and God’s omnipotence (God is still powerful)
the universe is uncreated and eternal like God and they exist together
God is not the source of suffering
what is a panentheistic relationship
God exists within the universe and the universe exists within God. God is the soul of the universe
quote about panentheistic relationship
God is the ‘soul’ of the universe
quote about how God created the universe
he ‘fashioned’ pre-existing matter
what did Griffin believe about God’s nature & how does this justify evil
God isn’t transcendent & can’t intervene to stop evil
he shares/ is affected by evil
what are the 3 steps of process theodicy
God is not omnipotent: pre-existing chaotic materials have powers that oppose God’s will
can partially determine themselves & influence eachother
God & universe are panentheistic
God only created order and complexity. He can’t intervene in evil only persuade chaotic matter into organised forms
Increased complexity = richer experience
God wants to persuade you to being more complex because you will have a better quality of life
strengths of process theodicy
solves the logical problem of evil, God isn’t omnipotent: God & evil can both exist because God doesn’t have the power to control it
emphasises God’s omnibenevolence & immanence: God shares humanity’s suffering, God is the ‘soul’, deeper level of faith
shows Christians that there’s a worthwhile goal after suffering: God still suffers but continues with the process
weaknesses of process theodicy
omnipotence is a key trait of the classic theistic God, God in process theodicy isn’t worthy of worship
why would God start a process he can’t control: God started to order chaos but this has the potential to increase evil because more complex=more capacity to suffer. if he is omniscient why would he start a process that he would lose all power over
can’t defend the Christian God: rejects omnipotence & ex nihilo which is inconsistent with Christian beliefs
Roth quote for weakness of process theodicy
if God is not omnipotent- he is a ‘weak’ and ‘pathetic’ God- He is not worthy of worship
used the example of Jewish Holocaust: if God can’t do anything about the suffering of his people, he isn’t worthy of worship
what does the logical problem of evil show
that God isn’t omnibenevolent or omniscient
Epicurus on the logical problem of evil + quote
inconsistent triad: God can’t be omniscient and omnibenevolent because evil exists in the world
“if he can but doesn’t want to then he is wicked”
Mackie on the logical problem of evil + quote
can an omnipotent God make something which he can’t control? If you answer yes to defend evil then God’s omnipotence is illogical
“paradox of omnipotence”
Hume quote on logical problem of evil
“the rock of atheism”
what does the evidential problem of evil show
that God isn’t omniscient
Mill quote on evidential problem of evil
“nearly all things that men are hanged for are nature’s everyday performances”
Karamazov Brothers on evidential problem of evil
the sheer number of evil in the world shows that God doesn’t exist
Rowe on evidential problem of evil + example
there are examples of unnecessary suffering in the world which shows God isn’t omniscient because he would stop it from happening
dying fawn in the forest fire: useless evil because nothing is learnt
what does Gregory S. Paul propose & how does it support evidential problem of evil
statistical problem of evil: there is statistical evidence to show the extent of human suffering in the world
350million children die during childbirth
what is a theodicy
a religious argument to solve the problem of evil
3 theodicies
Augustine’s
Hick’s soul making
Free will defence
Mackie’s FWD (general)
atheist: believed that God is not responsible for evil
to be truly free God can’t intervene &
moral evil is the price we pay for complete free will
we need complete free will or else our lives would be less valuable as we would all be like puppets
outline Mackie’s FWD
God gave us freewill
suffering allows us to respond positively
we can develop 2nd order goods (eg compassion)
these maximise 1st order goods (happiness and pleasure)
1st counter to Mackie’s FWD
a truly omnipotent God could make beings that always choose good so then there would be no evil
Plantinga’s counter to FWD + quote
It is logically impossible to think of a world with genuine free will whilst also being caused by God
“a world containing moral good is not up to God alone; it also depends on what the free creatures would do”
outline Hick’s soul making theodicy
based on Irenaeus: the world was made imperfect
God set up epistemic distance purposely because if we know God exists then faith is pointless
the world is the “vale of soul-making”
the purpose of life is to grow spiritually into what God wants us to be, if there was no evil this couldn’t happen because we wouldn’t develop 2nd order goods
what are Hick’s 2 stages of human creation
spiritually immature, grow into a relationship with God
1st weakness of Hick’s theodicy
he believes in universal salvation (no hell), if this is true then Jesus’ ressurection is void and this is fundamental for Christianity
Tillich: to accept Christianity you must accept Jesus’ ressurection
2nd weakness of Hick’s theodicy
epistemic distance works for human suffering, but what about animal suffering (eg Rowe)
counter to 2nd weakness of Hick’s theodicy + 2 quotes
animals do go to heaven so theodicy is applicable to them
“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”
“all animals praise the Lord” and “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life”
3rd weakness of Hick’s theodicy
soul-making doesn’t justify ‘worst’ evils in the world (eg genocide) meaning that those types of evil are diminished
counter to 3rd weakness of Hick’s theodicy
if God stoped ‘worst’ evils then other evils would be worse
strength of Hick’s theodicy + quote
solves the evidential problem of evil: overcoming evil develops virtue
people become spoiled if they have too much luxury and not enough responsibility or difficulty to overcome, evil allows people to gain compassion
Nietzsche: “What does not kill me, makes me stronger”
outline Augustine’s soul deciding theodicy
the world was created perfectly
evil is the absence of good, humans fell away from God’s goodness
humans are to blame for evil because we have an innate predisposition resulting from ‘the fall’ (original sin)
original sin led to corrupt human nature
“All evil is either sin or a punishment for sin”
1st weakness of Augustine’s theodicy
original sin violates moral responsibility
hard determinism, we are controlled by antecedent forces. if no one took moral responisbility for their actions it has negative societal impacts
2nd weakness of Augustine’s theodicy
scientific evidence against ‘the fall’
Dawkins: “let the strongest survive and the weakest die” natural selection
“their sin… eating the fruit of. forbidden tree- seems mild enough to merit a mere reprimand”
strength of Augustine’s theodicy + quote
solves the logical problem of evil: logically possible that God allows evil because it is either sin (moral evil) or punishment for sin/ the work of satanic energies (natural evil)
God is fair so it makes sense that he would allow evil to happen because we deserve punishment for the fall
“the secret yet just judgement of God”
Bible quote to support strength of Augustine’s theodicy
“neither can his grace be unjust nor his justice cruel”
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