Augustine's Theodicy

Augustine's Theodicy - (AD 354 to 430)

Augustine based his arguments on the Bible.

He had two major assumptions;

• Evil did not come from God, since God's creation was perfect
• Evil having come from elsewhere, God is justified in allowing evil to exist and stay

We are all assembled in the loins of Adam, therefore we are responsible for the evil and suffering we inflict on others. As we are decendents of Adam, and he disobeyed God by taking the apple from the Tree Of Knowledge in  the garden of Eden (Genesis 3). Because of this, we should be punished.

"God is perfect. He made the world free from flaws."

God is entitled to let evil into our world because of Adam and Eve's actions. So, God has no right to stop suffering. Only we can do that. If we created evil and suffering, we can get ourselves out of it.

Jesus died for our sins. God sent his only son to save us all - shows sympathy that God felt when seeing innocent people suffer because of other peoples actions.

Thus, God is the perfect creator.

Although, he must have known evil. The Tree of Knowledge proves this. Why put a tree in the Garden of Eden when He knew it was evil, yet inflicting curiosity on Eve, leading to temptation and eating the apple?

Augustine said that God gave us freedom, and we abused that gift, and turned away from God altogether.

God warned Adam and Eve about the tree, giving them free will to choose what to…