The Problem of Evil: Augustine and Irenaeus Essay

Augustine influenced by a Neo-Platonist, therefore he believed that Platonists studies are eternal and unchanging and they ideas were beneficial to understanding and explicate the Christian faith. The relationship between faith and reason means that God is not a silent God. He is a God who is close to our reason and life. God is so close to every one of us, and even closer to our hearts and to our reason. The God of Christian faith who Augustine followed through faith and reason is all good and all

The theological issue that most perplexed Augustine in his youth was that his mother Monica was Christian. He had turned his back on Christianity in his days as a youth and always tried to hide his views about Christianity. His mother never give up and always prayed that one day he would return Christian. I believed his Mother prayers had a lot to with him converting to

The seeds of our understanding of justice, our understanding of right and wrong, are part of our biological nature” (“Born Good? Babies Help Unlock the Origins of Morality”). Another view may stem from religious roots. Christianity’s standard religious beliefs play a large role in trying to answer the “problem of evil.” Focus on the Family, a global Christian website dedicated to helping families thrive according to biblical principles, argues against Voltaire’s beliefs that if evil exists, then God cannot.

Prior to understanding how the Lord enacts mercy upon his followers, St. Augustine examines how the interaction between mercy and suffering presents itself among his contemporaries. Humans draw themselves to tragedy and grief, because they garner pleasure from expressing empathy for their less fortunate counterparts. When generalizing man’s approach to mercy and

The Augustinian theodicy, named for the fourth and fifth century theologian and philosopher Augustine of Hippo, is a type of Christian theodicy designed in response to the evidential problem of evil and suffering. It attempts to explain how an omnipotent and omnibenevolent God could exist amid evidence of evil in the universe. According to Augustine, the universe was originally free from sin due to God creating the world perfectly, as He is both omnipotent and omnibenevolent according to Christian belief. This means He both wants to and has the ability to create perfection. Since it is a fact of the created universe that God has called all things into the universe ex nihilo, and did so perfectly, suffering was absent from the world.

He is good. Theists accept this, and embrace it, for how else can they worship

In this paper, I will argue that John Hicks’ theory it was not possible for God to create a world with people but without evil is accurate. I will present Hicks’ argument including the premises and conclusions of the text, a real-world application INVOLVING Hitler, and one objection to Hick’s argument. In John Hick’s argument, he presents what he feels are compelling reasons for our all good, loving God to allow humans that create evil in our world. ADD MORE…..

In the beginning, God created the world. He created the earth, air, stars, trees and mortal animals, heaven above, the angels, every spiritual being. God looked at these things and said that they were good. However, if all that God created was good, from where does un-good come? How did evil creep into the universal picture? In Book VII of his Confessions, St. Augustine reflects on the existence of evil and the theological problem it poses. For evil to exist, the Creator God must have granted it existence. This fundamentally contradicts the Christian confession that God is Good. Logically, this leads one to conclude evil does not exist in a created sense. Augustine arrives at the conclusion that evil itself is not a formal thing, but the

How does evil happen? How can we explain evil? Philosophers have debated on evil. B.C. Johnson who believes that God can chose to prevent evil. Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote Ivan Karamazov that he cannot accept God’s grand scheme of suffering. However, John Hick concluded that God is giving us free-will and soul-making. Nonetheless, I will be discussing that God is giving us free-will and soul-making. Then, I will discuss how God is responsible for the evil and suffering. Lastly, I will be proving how God is not responsible for evil/suffering, yet, he is giving us free-will and soul-making.

In other words, some people refer to evil as sin and suffering; others think of it as a separation from God while still more people personify it in the form of satan. My purpose here is not to discuss what form evil may take in an individual's life even though it may come up periodically. The central fact remains that evil, in one form or another, does exist and anyone not willing to believe in this reality quite frankly lives in a different dimension. Either that, or they simply live in a total state of denial! Keeping all this in mind, what I want to accomplish in this paper is to first explore the idea that evil is a relative term that exists within the context of each situation. Ah, yes! Even as I wrote that last sentence, I could see the wheels turning in your head. But not to worry. I will clarify soon. From this point, I will seek the wisdom of people who have tried to answer these tough questions proposed on the first page, come to some more conclusions through personal interviews and then end on a more personal note, using the help of my life experience as a Christian. This topic hits me hard at times. I often find myself in reflection, trying to formulate an answer to the evil that I see, and yes, the evil that I do. This evil will sometimes leave me feeling totally powerless and at its mercy. Yet I never give up hope for I know that just through the process of writing this paper, some new insights will be

Augustine was a great philosopher and theologian of his time. His writings began by 400 A.D. Augustine believed that humanity was different and special from God’s other creatures because we have free will. His text On Free Choice of the Will really delves into whether or not humanity is free or not. Augustine proves that humanity is free but within limitations. He makes his view clear by making a clear distinction between the soul and body called dualism. Augustine proposes that we have freedom within our soul but not in our body. He makes his view known by providing examples and explanations to his theory.

In this essay I will be discussing how St. Augustine ultimately solves the problem of evil, in a way that at times does go hand in hand with his religious views, however, at times contradicts what he is saying. In “ Confessions” Augustine who although does not in any way question the existence of God questions why God, someone who is all powerful, and all good still allowing people to suffer the way in which they are.

Augustine’s irrational behavior slowly unfolds into his devotion towards Christianity. Since birth, his free will has caused him to sin numerously. This free will originated from Adam and Eve who separated from God’s will when they disobeyed Him, also known as Original Sin. From then on, every human who existed after had the tendency to sin. The good deeds we’ve done were from free will, but only through the encouragement of God to do so because everything God created is good. Therefore, Augustine states that there is no such thing as evil, and if something evil existed, then it was not God’s

The book expresses three main concerns. One is Augustine’s frank and detailed acknowledgment of his personal sinfulness and the power he came to recognize as God’s provident grace—protective, creative, salvific—in every moment of his life. He also wrote in order to confess his own Christian faith and clearly repudiate any supposed lingering connections on his part with Manichaeism. Finally, The Confessions are a heartfelt paean of praise and thanksgiving in honor of God’s glory.

At this point in his life, Augustine is recognized for doing many things for the Church as a priest, author, and defender of faith. As an author he wrote Confessions, his spiritual autobiography, and City of God, his great work describing the Christian philosophy throughout history. In this magnificent work,