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Life After Death and the Problem of Evil

Life After Death and the Problem of Evil. How do traditional theodicies use life after death to compensate for/explain the evil in the world? Does there have to be life after death to explain/compensate for evil?

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Life After Death and the Problem of Evil

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  1. Life After Death and the Problem of Evil • How do traditional theodicies use life after death to compensate for/explain the evil in the world? • Does there have to be life after death to explain/compensate for evil? • Does resurrection or reincarnation provide a better response to the problem of evil?

  2. Omnipotent The Problem of Evil Omniscient Benevolent

  3. The Augustinian Theodicy • Creation itself is good. Suffering is the privation/absence of good (i.e. evil does not exist in its own right) • Evil enters the world when some member of the universal kingdom renounces its proper role (i.e. a malfunctioning of the divine scheme) • This corruption can’t be caused by God but must be caused by free will. • Belief in the fall and original sin with redemption through Christ.

  4. The Irenaean Theodicy • Humans weren’t created perfect – they are developing towards perfection. Distinction between image and likeness. • Presence of evil helps us grow and develop • Hick – notion of epistemic distance • If not completed in this life the process is completed in the after-life (cf. Kant and the summum bonum.

  5. Problems with theories of resurrection as solution to problem Augustinian Theodicy • Is it morally justified for God to give an infinite punishment for finite actions/sins? • Problems with the notion of original sin • Augustine seems to imply some are predestined to be saved – how does this exemplify free will?

  6. Problems with theories of resurrection as solution to problem Irenaean Theodicy • Couldn’t an omnipotent God enable us to achieve likeness in another way (i.e. no suffering)? • Does the end justify the means? (Cf. the debate between utilitarian and deontological ethics).

  7. Ideas of the after life come into Augustine’s thinking because he argues that salvation through Christ, which is what enables the afterlife, compensate for the evil in the world (which enters as a results of the fall).

  8. Reincarnation and the Problem of Evil • The suffering we experience in this life may be as a result of the actions of a previous incarnation of our atman, following the law of karma. • Our situation is not random, it is a result of karma

  9. Problems with theories of reincarnation as solution to problem • How can we explain the status of the first incarnation of our atman. Isn’t this just a postponement of the problem of evil? • Is it fair that something which doesn’t look like us, behave like us our have our personal character traits should be held responsible for our actions? • If the idea of the self is an illusion (cf. Buddhism) then is the idea of reward and punishment coherent?

  10. ‘Theories of resurrection provide the best solution to the problem of evil’ Discuss [35]

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