Augustine's Theodicy

?
  • Created by: tk
  • Created on: 24-02-24 15:02

Augustine's Theodicy

Advantages

  • Evil entered the world due to human free will and choice to disobey God. Brian Davies argues that if evil is the privation of good, God can't be blamed as He did not create evil. Alvin Platinga argued that "You can't have free choice without the possibility of things going wrong."
  • Fits in with the biblical teaching and what is observable within the world
  • Evil is a fitting punishment against mankind for their sins as we were in '"the loins of Adam" during The Doctrine of the Fall of Man in Genesis 3 and also because of moral evil committed
  • Suffering in the world is often due to human failure, EG. famine, poverty and war
  • This theodicy is soul-deciding which means a persons response to evil will decide their destiny. Often, humans depend on God during times of difficulty

Disadvantages

  • The Logical Contradiction: Schleiermacher questions how a perfect world and beings can go/do wrong as evil can't create itself out of nowhere. If evil is just the privation of good, is suffering even real? This is inconsequential as there is a reality to suffering EG. grieving parents of a deceased child
  • The Moral Problem: as hell was already created, God must have anticipated the world going wrong
  • The Scientific Problem: Augustine depends on the scientifically controversial Judeo-Christian theology. If the world was made perfect then this would contradict modern science where humans have evolved. Evolution where selfish desire is innate in us. All of mankind being seminally present in Adam has also been rejected on biological grounds so we can't be guilty of The Original Sin, meaning that God is just letting us suffer

Evaluation

In conclusion, both sides pose valid arguments. However, Augustine's Theodicy seems to have many weaknesses, where there has not been a full explanation of Christian theology which causes there to be inconsistencies, the unempathetic nature to the argument as well as the progression in science causing the theodicy to fall flat due to new pieces of information being discovered about mankind and its past.

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar Religious Studies resources:

See all Religious Studies resources »See all Philosophy resources »