AS Philosophy: Augustinian Theodicy

Augustinian Theodicy…read more

Theodicies
· Theodicies are arguments that suggest God is
right to allow the existence of evil and
suffering
· Due to the fact that evil and suffering can be
seen in some way or another to be essential.…read more

How did evil enter the earth?
· With God giving humans freewill that's how the
misuse of free will explains how evil enters the
Earth because the humans that had freewill
used it turn their backs on God by the supreme
good had to be settled for lesser goods.
· Due to sin taking place creation stops being
what its created to be. Perfection had been
ruined by human rebelliousness and the
balance of the perfect world had been
destroyed.…read more

What we get from this theodicy?
· It clear God of any responsibility for evils
existence. Responsibility lies with the angels and
humans.
· Augustine believed that the sin of Adam and Eve
has been passed to all humans (seminally
present).This is called original sin.
· If God is a fair God then everyone would receive
their punishment in hell. However as God is all-
loving he became human (Jesus) to die in our
place and receive our punishment for our sin. So
that we can spend eternity in Heaven with God.…read more

Augustine Beliefs
· Augustine believes God is perfect so therefore
he must have created a good and perfect
world.
· Augustine also believes evil is not a substance
or thing, as it was not made.
· He believes that Evil wasn't created by God.
· Augustine also sees Evil as a "privation of
Good" which basically means lack of good.…read more

Criticism 1:Augustine's Contradiction
Schleiermacher Criticised the theodicy for these
reasons:
· The logical contradiction to say that a
perfectly created world had gone wrong
· How could angels and humans choose to do
evil if evil did not exist?
· If humans are perfect then it wouldn't be
possible for them to choose evil.
· If you were not made with evil how can you
choose to do evil.…read more