THEODICIES

THE BIG TWO

TWO THEODICIES CONTRASTED

The two theodicies in the Christian tradition that have dominated the discussions are:

IRENAEAN AUGUSTINIAN

Ref. Bernard Farr’s article in Dialogue 8, Apr 97 entitled “Faith & Freedom”

What is a theodicy?

An attempted resolution of the problem of evil.

Gk. (Theos = God) + (Dike =Justice) Starts from assumption that there is a

God. Must (a) be internally coherent, & (b) be

consistent with the data, religious and other.

Some observations

Evil, pain and suffering are not synonyms. At one level this is an intellectual problem. At another level it is an existential

problem, an experienced mystery.

“evil is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be encountered and lived through” - Marcel

AUGUSTINIAN first

Although Augustine (354-430 AD) is a later thinker than Irenaeus, his is often the first position to be considered.

It has dominated traditional Christian thinking both Roman Catholic and Protestant.

Big name advocates include Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin and Leibniz

AUGUSTINIAN:RESPONSIBILITY FOR EVIL

Created beings have misused their freedom –

Angels and/or human beings Moral evil is their fault Natural evil is an inevitable consequence

(punishment) for that moral evil

AUGUSTINIANMETAPHYSICAL VIEWS [1]

METAPHYSICS is concerned with large scale explanations or accounts of Reality.

There are three features here:

[1] Evil is non-being. God only creates good. So evil is good ‘gone wrong’ or to be found at the edge of existence.

AUGUSTINIAN METAPHYSICAL VIEWS [2]

[2] Aesthetic analogy: some parts are ugly but the whole picture is more beautiful because of them.

[3] Principle of plenitude: it is better to have a universe ‘full’ of all kinds of beings, even if some of them suffer or create evil.

AUGUSTINIAN:GOD AND THE UNIVERSE

God relates to the universe impersonally. Humans are created to complete the list of

types of being.

AUGUSTINIANLOOKS TO THE PAST

The FALL. This offers the explanation of the origin of

evil. Note that the Fall of the angels – Satan in

particular, precedes the Fall of Adam and Eve.

AUGUSTINIANMORE ON THE FALL

Adam (man) created perfect in perfect world but deliberately sinned.

Lost original righteousness and descendents inherit ‘original sin’ & ‘original guilt’ and are subject to natural evil as punishment for Adam’s sin.

This inheritance is natural because of our ‘seminal identity’ with Adam. “We are all in that one man” - Augustine

AUGUSTINIANCONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL

Our freedom to come to God and our ability to reason about Him are either radically impaired or totally lost by the Fall.

The universe is no longer as God intended it to be. No longer a suffering free Paradise. Now it needs to be saved by God’s grace through redemption.

AUGUSTINIANDESTINY QUESTION

Our behaviour and response to God in this world will determine our ultimate destiny:

HEAVENHEAVEN or

HELL

IRENAEAN second

Irenaeus (2ndcc AD) is best remembered for his arguments against Gnosticism. He has had his arguments revived in the 20th cc by John Hick in ‘Evil & The God of Love’ 1966.

Other big names in this tradition are Schleiermacher & Tennant.

IRENAEANOVERVIEW

God is seen as ultimately responsible for the evil in the universe.

Moral evil is the fault of free human beings whom God has created and permits to sin.

God has deliberately put natural evil in the world to create a ‘vale of soul making’.

IRENAEANMETAPHYSICAL VIEWS

No views that correspond to those in the Augustinian account.

IRENAEANGOD’S RELATIONSHIP TO US

God’s relationship to the universe is essentially personal.

Human beings were created for fellowship with God.

IRENAEANFUTURE RATIONALE

Look to the heavenly future to justify the current situation. The end justifies the evil and suffering of the present.

Evil & suffering will be ended one day. God brings good out of evil

IRENAEANWHAT ABOUT THE FALL [1]?

The Fall is less important or denied altogether.

Either the Fall of Adam was like the sin of a child. Mankind lost the ‘likeness’ of God (perfection) at the Fall, but retained God’s ‘image’ (freedom, responsibility, reason etc).

IRENAEANWHAT ABOUT THE FALL [2]?

Or mankind was created (evolved) ‘fallen’. Through creation/evolution, humans developed from the dust of the earth at an epistemic distance (distance of knowing) from God, from which they are free to grow towards Him, not being overwhelmed by any direct vision of the divine nature.

IRENAEANWHAT ABOUT THE FALL [3]

A two stage conception of the creation of humankind emerges:

[1] ‘IN THE IMAGE OF GOD’: Gradual emergence of homo sapiens in preparation for later relationship with God.

[2] ‘IN THE LIKENESS OF GOD’: Brought through our own decisions to a stage where we become ‘Children of God’.

IRENAEANHOW THE WORLD IS

More-or-less as God intended it to be. A ‘vale of soul-making’ with real

temptations, risks and ambiguities. The sort of world in which we can freely

develop faith and virtue We learn obedience through suffering in

co-operation with God’s grace-through-creation.

IRENAEANESCHATOLOGY

Irenaean theologians tend to reject the notion of hell.

In the end all will be saved (universalism) perhaps through a continuing process of soul-making after death (cf. purgatory & Hick’s resurrection after-worlds).

Some argue for annihilationism instead.

An Irenean perspective from philosopher Robert Ardrey quoted in The Encyclopaedia Britannica and cited in A.J.Jacobs novel “The Know-It-All.” The original quote is from Ardrey’s book “African Genesis” (1961)

“But we were born of risen apes, not fallen angels, and the Apes were armed killers besides. And so what shall we wonder at? Our murders and massacres and missiles, and our irreconcilable regiments? Or our treaties whatever they may be worth; our symphonies however seldom they may be played; our peaceful acres, however frequently they may be Converted into battlefields; our dreams however rarely they may be accomplished. The miracle of man is not how far he has sunk but how magnificently he has risen. We are known among the stars by our poems, not our corpses.”