Two types of theistic responses to the philosophical arguments from evil. Nick trakakis endorses the position that theodicy, whether intellectually successful or. That this argument is valid is perhaps most easily seen by a reductio argument. Since the 1960s there has been a resurgence of interest in the primitive theodicy put forward by st irenaeus of lyons in the second century ad. Lets now consider a couple well known modern theodicies.
Before examining leibnizs views on the problem of evil, it is necessary to do some stagesetting in order to locate just what sort of. Theodicy is a branch of philosophy dealing with the issue of evil in light of the existence of god. Counterpart and appreciation theodicies the blackwell. If god is just and holy and good, then how do evil and misery exist. The blackwell companion to the problem of evil wiley. Problem of evil 2 natural evils, including earthquakes, tidal waves, and virulent diseases. Feinberg now we turn to the next problem, namely, why god allowed evil in the first place. Apparently this omniscient sky pixie created lucifer who then upset it sky pixies dont like people questioning or challenging them and, as a result of this, the sky pixie created a firey pit and cast poor old lucifer into it for an eternity, to be joined by other people who do things that said pixie frowns upon.
More precisely we will look at what the philosopher paul ricoeur called the ontotheological problem of theodicy, drawing as. A theodicy is an attempt to justify or defend god in the face of evil by answering the following problem, which in its most basic form involves these assumptions. The counterpart theodicy says that good cannot exist without evil, and so god must allow evil in order to allow good. The first two are often used as synonyms, but strictly speaking the problem of evil is the larger issue of which theodicy is a subset because one can have a secular problem of evil. His discussion of each is intended to make clear the reasons for which they fail to address the real problem. We sometimes wonder why both good and evil are able to exist in this world. In this lesson, we will look at the concept of theodicy and how one philosopher attempted to explain why we need both. The skeptics argument generally is that given the reality of evil, we must sacrifice either the power omnipotence or the love goodness of god. The majority of theodicies that have dominated western christendom are augustinian in nature. Various versions of the problem of evil in leibniz. This response presupposes that humans are indeed free, and it fails to reckon with. The word comes from the greek theos, god and dike, justice. Pdf creation, theodicy, and the problem of evil robert. Pdf a new look at the problem of evil researchgate.
And, moreover, that god cannot have morally justifiable reasons for permitting the existence of evil and suffering in the world. The counterpart theodicy relies on a metaphysical claim about existence. John hick, in his important work evil and the god of love surveyed the state of theodicy and concluded that the best approach to resolving the problem. One of my favourite parts of the bible is the tale of lucifer. Toward a christian theodicy which explains all of evil december 14, 2016 adam setser disclaimer. But this assumption is invalid for a number of reasons. Wouldnt such a god have the power and character to prevent it.
Here, powell will discuss five different ways in which religions attempt to explain the existence of evil. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. According to oakes, the task of a christian theodicy is to show that an omnipotent and benevolent god can coexist with evil in his finite creation. The theistic concept of god as supremely powerful, intelligent, and good makes the problem very difficult because such a being, it would seem, would make a much better world than this one. The various experiences of evil as that which comes from without to alter us.
Pdf this article examines the process theodicies of david ray. Theodicy is a branch of theology that defends gods goodness and justice in response to the problem of evil the word was supposedly coined by the german philosopher gottfried leibniz 16461716, and is derived from two greek words theos, god, and dike, justice. A theodicy for some given fact about evil is an explanation for why god would have an all. The blackwell companion to the problem of evil presents a collection of original essays providing both overview and insight, clarifying and evaluating the philosophical and theological problem of evil in its various contexts and manifestations features all original essays that explore the various forms of the problems of evil, offering theistic responses that attempt to explain evil as. This was a paper i submitted for a systematic theology class at seminary a while back, but i never published it here because it is flawed. Let me draw some conclusions regarding my attempt at outlining a christian hypothesis on theodicy. The irenean theodicy discussed is that developed by john hick in relation to gods overarching purpose for humanity, which is to make. Theodicy definition is defense of gods goodness and omnipotence in view of the existence of evil. The topic of evil offers many onramps to preaching powerful sermons and proclaiming the gospel. The second problem with this argument is that premise 5 assumes a monolithic structure of divine will. Essays on the goodness of god the freedom of man and the origin of evil g. A variety of arguments have been offered in response to the problem of evil, and some of them have been used in both theodicies and defenses. Christian apologetics charles gutenson march 18, 2018 3,000 words final paper the problem of evil and theodicy when.
The problem of evil exists because of the fall of man. The problem of evil is no mere theoretical dispute. How can there be a allpowerful and allgood god if there is evil in the world. Theodicies and defenses are two forms of response to what is known in theology and philosophy as the problem of evil. Mans problem concerns not merely explaining evil but overcoming it. It is to answer the question of why a good god permits the manifestation of evil, thus resolving the issue of the problem of evil. Im not sure ive ever talked about the problem of evil before. The free will and ignorance defenses fail for a number reasonmost prominent of which being the groundless presuppositions underlying the arguments. Making the task of theodicy impossible intelligent design. Leibniz on the problem of evil stanford encyclopedia of. One argument, known as the free will defense, claims that evil is caused not by god but by human beings, who must be allowed to choose evil if they are to have free will. Our ability to retrieve key elements of irenaeus thought from against heresies and demonstration of the apostolic preaching may lead to a fruitful hypothesis of how the bishop of lyons might have.
There is a belief that moral and natural evil exists because there is a vacuum left where god does not exist. This essay sets forth the claim that the absolute freedom of gods act of creation informs the nature and meaning of evil. In order to avoid a duplicate discussion in two different articles i propose we move the material about specific theodicies in this article to the appropriate sections already. They only provide some reasonable justifications for moral evil, and horrid natural realities in the world, but. Flowers emeritus professor of old testament at duke university.
The opportunity is perpetually ripe because people constantly have questions they. Overcoming suffering and evil is understood as a way of moving toward god. Mackie on the problem of evil university of notre dame. However, what we are proposing is neither a new theodicy nor a criticism of any specific. The problem of evil, or the seeming contradiction involved in simultaneously holding the beliefs in the existence of an omnibenevolent deity and the reality of evil present in the world he created, has been engaging the minds of philosophers and. The problem of evil, especially when adding the element of gratuitous evil, remains an outstanding problem for theism.
The problem of evil article already has an en extensive discussion of various defenses and theodicies. There is no cogent theodicy or defense against it, plantinga notwithstanding. Within the christian form of monotheism, additional resources involving the trinity, especially christ, can and do play a role in formulating a theodicy. Solutions to the problem of evil, theodicy, norman geisler. From leibnizs time until the mid1970s, the word theodicy was used to describe attempts to explain gods permission of evil. A study of the chief theodicies by a gratry 1892 a history of the problems of philosophy, volume 1, 1902.
Historys most famous statement of the problem of evil comes from the ancient greek philosopher epicurus. The problem is that there is so much evil in the world, both moral and natural. Things certainly feel evil and suffering certainly is a problem. Moving specific theodicies to the problem of evil article. Others, drawing a distinction between a theodicy and a more limited defense, have sought to show only that the existence of some evil in the world is logically compatible with gods omnipotence and perfect goodness. The metaphysical horizons against which evil is experienced. The soulmaking theodicy, for example, is simply the view that evil is justified as a necessary condition of soul development, but if a proponent of this theodicy goes on to claim that suffering should be used for personal gain, this is a failing of that. Charles cameron, a biblical approach to theodicy, evangel 10. The problem of evil defined three terms, the problem of evil, theodicy, and defense are important to our discussion. This is the problem of evil, which raises a serious challenge to theism. The topic of this paper is the ageold problem of evil. The problem of evil in the philosophy of religion is discussed in regard to augustinian and irenean theodicies.
Explaining all the natural and personal disasters without a belief in god and why evil exists is paramount to impossible. The problem of evil simply consists in a logical contradiction between the following three propositions. Human suffering and moral evil are relatively easy for the apologist to explain, and the fall of adam is a key to that explanation. Since the mid1970s, however, it has taken on a more refined sense among philosophers of religion a change that can be attributed to alvin plantingas book god, freedom and evil 1974. But the thornier question is that of natural evil disasters like hurricanes, volcanoes, earthquakes that kill not only people but innocent animals. Hicks basic principle is that we live in a soul making universe. The problem of evil is always a challenge for the christian witness. The problem of evil the philosophical problem of evil is the challenge of reconciling belief in god with evil in the world.
Then in the second place, the theodicy itself is peculiarly rich in historical material. These traditions explain evil in terms of reincarnation but, when nontheistic, they do not employ reincarnation in answering the problem of evil or providing a theodicy in the strict sense of the termsas a problem about god permitting evil, and as a justification dike of god theos permitting evil. Because god created the universe without prior constraint or necessity, his moral nature and the destiny of creation are. It might be objected that the problem identified here is not a difficulty for theodicies as such but rather for advocates of theodicies. In this work, plantinga distinguishes between two types of explanations of. He is the author of numerous scholarly articles and books, including old testament wisdom westminster john knox 2010, defending god.
Vindicate the ways of god to man15 perhaps no medium provides a better arena for viewing the philosophical and theological differences of these two men than that of theodicy. Some theodicies also address the evidential problem of evil by attempting to make the existence of an allknowing, allpowerful and allgood or omnibenevolent god consistent with the existence of evil or. Many philosophers accept that plantinga successfully solves the logical problem of evil,11, as he appears to have shown that god and evil are logically compatible, though others demur12. The problem of theodicy how can such evil and suffering exist in a universe created by a good, loving god is a centuriesold, unresolved paradox that is inherent in all religions that include a belief in a. It was the only one of his main philosophical works to be published in his lifetime, so that it was a principal means of his direct influence. The problem of evil stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Obviously this only applies to religions with an allpowerful and allgood god, and i might as well say that im thinking of christianity in particular. John hicks irenaeanevolutionary theodicy recasts iranaeans pedagogical theodicy in an evolutionary context. Pdf platos theodicy and the platonic cause of evil.
As a result, the task of furnishing a theodicy has been relegated to the. Whether in the form of the holocaust, the rwandan genocide, hurricane katrina, the 2011 japanese tsunami and fukushima disaster, or just the multitude of thefts, rapes and murders that occur every day, evil exists. Christian theodicy in light of genesis and modern science. If evil exists and god exists, then either god doesnt have the power to eliminate all evil, or doesnt know when evil exists, or doesnt have the desire to eliminate all evil. In his essay evil and soulmaking, john hick attempts to justify the problem of evil. The solution to the problem of evil, or part of the problem. If only i knew how to find god, how to enter his court.