The theodicy of Augustine vs. The Irenaean theodicy

?
  • Created by: Dulcimer
  • Created on: 08-03-14 22:31

The theodicy of Augustine vs. The Irenaean theodicy

Similarities

  • God the creator is omnipotent and all good
  • Free will is valuable so God sustains a world in which moral and natural evil occurs

Differences

  • Augustine: Creation is good and in the beginning was harmonious
  • There's a hierarchy of beings: Angels, Humans, animals
  • Evil is a privation or lack of goodness in something
  • Angels and human beings fall through their own free choices and giving into temptation. Sin enters the world through Adam and Eve
  • Disharmony in the world follows the fall of angels leading to natural evil
  • The existence of evil highlights the goodness of creation because of the contrast between good and evil
  • Irenaean: The universe and earth develop over time
  • Human beings evolve from the image of God and into the likeness of God
  • The world in an environment in which people grow and develop into the likeness of God. Hence, natural evil is present in it.
  • There is an epistemic distance between God and people so that human beings have the chance to choose freely to grow into relationship with God.
  • All will come to be in the likeness of God eventually, but this will not be in physical life.

Overall comparison

Similiarities: God; Free willDifferences: Harmonious creation; Hierarchy of beings; Privation; The Fall; Natural Evil; Aesthetic value

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar Religious Studies resources:

See all Religious Studies resources »See all Philosophy resources »