In depth and detailed summary notes for OCR Religious Studies: Problem of Evil. Made by an A* student who is now studying at Oxford. Comprehensive notes perfect for essay plans.
-Epicurus and then Mackie: Inconsistent triad: an all-powerful, all-loving God cannot
exist while evil persists. (Logical problem of evil).
-Some (e.g. Hick) would solve this by stating that evil serves a good purpose even
though it appears bad.
-Some may also suggest God is not totally powerful or totally loving.
-Swinburne: Omnipotence is misunderstood. God can only do what is logically
possible. It is a logical contradiction for God to allow free will whilst not allowing evil
and suffering to occur.
-Dawkins and Atkins: Even processes like evolution have profound suffering and
cruelty in them.
Evil as an evidential problem
-Hume: there is posteriori evidence of evil in the world, and this evidence makes a belief
in God unjustified, since God could have made this world without such evil. Evidence
against evil and a perfect God being able to co-exist.
-There is too much suffering in the world for an all-powerful and all-loving God to exist.
The extent of evil and suffering throughout human history cannot be explained by the
existence of God.
-Mill: Evil and suffering in the world suggests a cruel malevolent creator.
-Fails to recognise the uniqueness of God, and that we are finite beings with limited
capacities.
Augustine’s theodicy
-Defined evil as ‘privatio boni’ (absence of good).
-Weakness: inadequate definition. Many examples of evil, such as genocide, cannot be
understood as merely a lack of goodness.
-God created a perfect world full of variety, meaning some things have more capabilities
than others. As angels were created with variety, some received less grace, meaning
they fell into sin due to misusing their free will.
-Adam and Eve misused their free will. This act of disobedience (Original Sin) corrupted
the natural world and human soul. Moral and natural evil entered the world.
-Strength: recognises the role of humanity as the cause for a lot of evil and suffering we
see in the world today.
-Strength: Theodicy is successful in preserving God’s omnibenevolence.
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