The Problem of Evil and Suffering – Lesson 8 – Dewi Zephaniah Phillip’s Response to the Irenaean Theodicy
OVERVIEW: Dewi Zephaniah Phillips challenges John Hick’s suggestion that God planned suffering into the world as this would make God an evil God if he were prepared to let so many innocent people suffer for the price of freedom. He gave the example of the Holocaust in his rejection of any theodicy which presents suffering as […]
The Problem of Evil and Suffering – Lesson 7 – John Hick’s Version of the Irenaean Theodicy
OVERVIEW: John Hick’s theodicy is based on the theodicy of St Irenaeus who argued that God created all human beings in His image, but not His likeness. By this, he meant that we are created in the embryonic form of God. We are in God’s image (we have reason and morality etc.) but we are […]
The Problem of Evil and Suffering – Lesson 6 – Responses to Augustine’s Theodicy
OVERVIEW: It seems a matter of semantics to say that evil is not a thing, it’s just the decisions people make. Goodness is not a thing either, it is just something that happens. Either evil happens or it does not. If it does happen then it could have not happened. If God was benevolent and omnipotent […]
The Problem of Evil and Suffering – Lesson 5 – Augustine’s Theodicy
WATCH: The lecture https://vimeo.com/686663803/1dcfe48a92 OVERVIEW: St Augustine considered evil a problem on the following basis: Premise 1. God created all things.Premise 2. Evil is a thing.Conclusion. God created evil. St Augustine relied on the Genesis Creation Story to show that all things came from God and that all things were made good by God. This being […]
The Problem of Evil and Suffering – Lesson 4 – Gottried Leibniz’ Response to the Evidential Problem of Evil and Suffering
OVERVIEW: The term “theodicy” was first coined by Gottfried Leibniz, the 17th-18th Century German Philosopher, taking from the Greek terms: theos (God) and dikē (justice). A theodicy is therefore an attempt to justify God in spite of the existence of evil and suffering. Leibniz argued that this was the best of all possible worlds and […]
The Problem of Evil and Suffering – Lesson 3 – The Evidential Aspect of the Problem of Evil and Suffering
OVERVIEW: John Stuart Mill complained that the idea that there is a benevolent designer God was incompatible with the evidence we have of the world of suffering both caused by humans and that takes place in nature itself. In On Nature, he comments that the evils that nature commits would be condemnable were they to […]
The Problem of Evil and Suffering – Lesson 2 – Re-evaluation of the Nature of God
OVERVIEW: Both the Inconsistent Triad and the Logical Problem of Evil are based on specific definitions for the attributes of God and use them to show how they are incompatible with the existence of evil and suffering in the world. However, as Josh McDowell points out, we know God through his attributes which are revealed through […]
The Problem of Evil and Suffering – Lesson 1 – The Logical Aspect of the Problem of Evil and Suffering
WATCH: The lecture https://vimeo.com/686663405/d9ffbffb37 OVERVIEW: The 3rd-4th Century BC philosopher Epicurus presented a logical challenge against the existence of God based on the understanding that God is, as typically described, all powerful and all loving. This challenge was echoed by David Hume in the 18th Century and named the Inconsistent Triad suggesting that if God were […]
The Problem of Evil and Suffering Lesson Structure
The Logical Aspect Of The Problem Of Evil And Suffering WATCH: These videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AzNEG1GB-khttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k64YJYBUFLM OVERVIEW. The 3rd-4th Century BC philosopher Epicurus presented a logical challenge against the existence of God based on the understanding that God is, as typically described, all powerful and all loving. This challenge was echoed by David Hume in the 18th […]