Dillon Precious The Problem of Evil
What is the problem of evil?
Evil: morally bad, cruel, or very unpleasant.
Relevant names throughout the topic:
o Augustine
o Epicurus
o Irenaeus
o Hume
o Hick
o Swinburne
o D.Z. Phillips
The Big Problem – if God is all-loving and all powerful, then why is there evil and suffering?
This is one of the strongest points against the existence of God.
Omnipotent – all powerful.
Omniscient – all knowing.
Omnibenevolent – all loving.
Qualify – means to change something slightly, to limit it or add a condition to it.
Theodicy - an argument that suggests that God is right to allow the existence of evil and
suffering because in some way or another, they are necessary and essential.
The Evidential Problem of Evil:
o We must remember that evil is always suffered by someone, somewhere in the
world and pain can be experienced individually.
o When a million people starve in a famine, there are a million different agonies, as
well as the grief and the lament of those who survive to mourn them.
o Therefore, evil is not a theoretical problem, but part of living (it is evidential – we
have evidence of it).
The Logical Problem of Evil:
o The problem of evil is traditionally defined as an inconsistent triad.
Evil exists, yet God is all-powerful and all-loving.
o In ancient times, it was posed by Epicurus.
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then He is not omnipotent. Is He
able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is He both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil? Is He neither able nor willing? Then why call Him
God?” – Epicurus.
o David Hume would return to it centuries later.
“If God is omnipotent, omniscient, and wholly good, whence evil? If God wills
to prevent evil, but cannot, then He is not omnipotent. If He can prevent evil
but does not, then He is not good. In either case, He is not God.” – David
Hume.
o This is not an objection to any kind of God.
o It would not be an objection to any kind of deist God. One could imagine an idle God
who injected pain and anguish into the world to make it more entertaining for itself.
o However, the God of Abrahamic religions is a God who cares about its creations.
o Deism: the belief that there is a God who created the Universe, but had no further
interest in it, or connection with its affairs.
Aristotle believed in this kind of God.
, Dillon Precious The Problem of Evil
o Theism: the belief that there is a God.
Direct comparison between Augustine and Irenaeus’s theodicies:
Augustine: Irenaeus:
Soul-deciding. Soul-making.
Man created in the perfect likeness of God (Genesis 1:27). Man created imperfectly with the form, but not content of
Man has freedom to make his own choices with true moral God.
autonomy. Man created with the true moral autonomy and has freedom
Man’s freedom eventually leads to his fall from grace. to make choices.
Exercising free will leads to sin and its consequences. Man’s freedom gives him potential to grow into the likeness
Man can only be redeemed from these consequences by of God through responsible choices.
Jesus. The exercise of free will enables man to make a difference to
God foresaw man’s fall and predestined some for salvation, his environment.
and some for condemnation. Man’s positive choices enable him to find redemption through
Sin, evil, and suffering are part of the aesthetic pattern of the his own actions.
universe in which man has been placed. God remains at an epistemic distance so as not to be
Evil is a privation or absence of good. overwhelmingly obvious to man as he makes free choices.
The work of Jesus on the cross is essential for man’s Evil can lead to good.
redemption of sin.
Augustinian Theodicy:
St Augustine of Hippo (354-430):
o He attempted to justify the existence of God, even with the existence of evil.
o Converted to Christianity in 387 CE.
o Manichaeism: dualistic cosmology describing the struggle between a spiritual world
of good and light, and an evil, material world of darkness.
o Gnosticism: a collection of early Jewish and Christian sects which emphasised
spiritual knowledge above orthodox teachings, traditions, and authority of
traditional religious elements. The material world is also viewed as evil and flawed.
o Platonism: the view of Plato and his followers (see earlier work).
o Heresy: A belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious doctrine.
o Privatio Boni: a privation of good.
o Concupiscence: the innate tendency of human beings to do wrong.
He was the creator of the idea of Original Sin – the world was perfect when made by God,
but human sin has it evil. “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very
good” – St Augustine.
Augustine believed that everything made is good, but not good in the same way as the
goodness of God.
o A stone may be good but only in the way a stone can be good – good for building or
for other uses.
o A stone can only be as good as a stone can be. It cannot be good in the way a cat, or
a meal is good.
o The goodness of humans is different again.
o If God makes things in all different ways, then although each thing good is good
itself, there will always be a scale of good (think Aristotle).
o Some things will be better than others because they have more capabilities.
