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Explore the philosophical attempts to reconcile belief in an all-loving God with the existence of evil and suffering in the world. This article examines St. Augustine's soul-deciding theodicy, its strengths, and criticisms.
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Useful Quotations Mix and Match: • St. Augustine: Confessions“ Either God cannot abolish evil, or he will not; if he cannot then he is not all-powerful; and if he will not then he is not all-good”. • David Hume: “The rock of atheism”. • Basil Mitchell: “Full force of the problem”. • Richard Swinburne said that the theist must have a satisfactory answer to this problem, otherwise there is no reason why the atheist should share his faith (pg. 43 Tyler exact quote). • Anthony Flew – biggest challenge facing believer is admitting the existence of suffering is a serious question that demands an answer.
Theodicy • A term coined by great German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz. • Stems from 2 Greek words: Theos(God) and dike (righteous) = ‘righteous God’. • Philosophical attempts to show all-loving God has morally sufficient reason allowing evil and suffering to occur in the world. • Theodicy must NOT qualify God, deny existence evil, give up faith.
The Augustinian Theodicy (354-430) • Soul-deciding theodicy. • Evil is not a substance and God did not create it. Evil is a privation – a negative absence of good (Blindness – absence of sight)). • Universe originally created perfect paradise (Genesis 1:31). • How did it come about? Looks into past for explanation of origin evil. Fall of man in Genesis Ch 1-3 is basis for this theodicy (beings had freewill turned their back on God). • Adam sinned deliberately – original righteousness lost and Augustine believed his descendants inherit original sin and guilt (‘original sin’). • Subjected natural evil - punishment caused by disharmony/imbalance in nature because of human sin. • Responsibility evil rests on created beings who misused freedom. • Moral evil blamed on humanity (Gen 3:3-5 “you will be like God knowing good and evil” )and natural evil is inevitable consequence. • Clears creator responsibility evil. Evil is not from God. The universe is not how God intends to be. • This theodicy adds that in the end there will be a final judgement – our behaviour in this world determine our ultimate destination – heaven of hell. • God has provided the necessary means for human beings to move back towards God. Jesus’ self-sacrifice.
Strengths • Recognition of the extent of moral evil and its cause. • Satisfies what sets out to achieve – clear creator of responsibility. • Offers explanation moral and natural evil. Problems here – What natural disasters and animal suffering walked earth before man???? Problems this theodicy rests on the Fall.
A more complicated problem is associated with the idea of collective responsibility. Why should people suffer for the misdemeanors of past generations? Even the Bible argues this: Jeremiah 31:27-44.(should the children’s teeth be set on edge because the Fathers have eaten sour grapes?). • How can such a God be worthy of worship? Only a malevolent God allow suffering for the sins of others. Not acceptable say compensated in next life.
Problems/criticisms • Augustine suggested that there was a state of blissful ignorance in the Garden of Eden, which was then knocked off balance by the Fall. Biologists have formulated the theory of natural selection, in which the innate selfishness of creatures becomes a virtue in the battle for survival. • However if God can be held responsible for the system by which the natural world works, he should be held responsible for the suffering that this system causes.
Augustine makes much of the idea of Hell – as a part of Creation, God must be responsible for its creation, so he must have foreseen the need for punishment. If he could see the outcome wouldn't it have been better not to create?? Notion of Hell – inconsistent with all-loving God??
Outline • God is perfect. The world he created reflected that perfection. • Evil is not a substance (see Thomas Aquinas) – it is a deprivation. • Sin and death entered the world through Adam and Eve, and their disobedience. • This brought about ‘disharmony’ in our human nature and in Creation.
He also based it on 2 assumptions: • Evil is not from God – God’s creation was faultless and perfect. • Evil came from within the world.
5. We all share in the evil nature brought about by Adam and Eve, because we were ‘seminally present in them. We therefore deserve to be punished. • God is justified in not intervening, because the suffering is a consequence of human action.
Augustine’s theory hinges on the idea that evil is a privation . He uses the analogy of blindness – blindness is not an ‘entity’, but an absence of sight. Augustine accounts for evil by ascribing it to human agency. Evil came about as a result of the misuse of free will • All suffering is therefore a consequence of this abuse of free will.
Natural evil is caused by the imbalance in nature brought about by the Fall. • Moral evil is caused because the world has become estranged from God, and immorality has been able to thrive. • However, God has not relinquished any responsibility for the world. If God were simply just, everyone would be suitably punished. Instead God’s grace brought about the possibility of reconciliation through Jesus Christ, whose crucifixion saved a certain number from eternal punishment.
