Hick's "Replica" Theory

 Hick's "Replica" Theory

Hick uses the idea of a "replica" to explain the coherence of bodily resurrection. Unlike the normal use of the term replica, Hick uses it in a way that rules out a contemporaneous counterpart. The term is intended to signify the reappearance of a person (usually in a different space) identical to a person who has died (in some previous space). The second person is said to be a replica of the first.

The significance of the replica theory is that it is a model that can allow us to determine whether resurrection is coherent. A basic question in philosophy of religion is whether a bodily resurrection is possible. If there is a model that is sufficiently similar to resurrection that is coherent, then resurrection itself is coherent. Hence, Hick aims to show that there is a coherent model of the resurrection.

5. Three Cases

Hick claims that the following situations are coherent and hence…