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Hick Chapter 10 (Schliermacher) - Coggle Diagram
Hick Chapter 10 (Schliermacher)
The Irenaean/eschatalogical approach was revived by Schliermacher, whose approach bears similarities
Schliermacher summary
'Demythologises' the fall, so it is seen as a story of human potential rather than a historical event
We are all born with 'original sin', showing that we need universal redemption from God
God ordained suffering as part of this redemption, so it instrumental to his purpose
Distinguishes between two stages of man
First Adam
Possessed the potentiality for full God consciousness
Second Adam
God consciousness becomes actual in Jesus, who is beckoning humanity to also become the second Adam
Man is gradually being perfected, and sin is inevitable at stages prior to full redemption
'Original Perfection'
Schliermacher is a non-cognitive: religion is not dogma/ethics but instead inner experiences of absolute dependence on the divine which goes deeper than rational thinking. Everyone has God consciousness.
There are two sides of us
'God-consciousness': fits the gap between us and God, and needs to be developed
'World-consciousness': our physical bodies which prevent us from God-consciousness
The world was not originally perfect in the sense that it was perfect once, but instead that it is fundamentally suitable for God's purpose of having us gain God-consciousness
Man is originally perfect in that he is capable of reaching God-consciouness. All aspects of human experience are capable of awakening an awareness of God, and thus our world is perfect for its purpose.
Hick: the old sense of 'original' doesn't work with the developments of science which show that we developed from a primitive state
Account of sin
Offers two different definitions
Phenomenological: anything which delays God-consciousness, the interference of our bodily nature
Theological: that which can be redeemed. The development of god-consciousness brings with it an awareness of the need for redemption.
Sin comes from our awakening God-consciousness, finding itself in tension with the flesh, creates in us the sense of sin.
Finds a racial solidarity in sin: each new individual independently of any choice of his own, is born into and becomes part of a corrupt society
On one hand, this sinfulness has grounds outside one’s own being, but on the other hand, original sin becomes “the personal guilt of every individual who shares in it” (Schleiermacher)
Relation between sin and suffering
Evil: aspects of our environment which obstruct our lives, eg. pain, disease, death
Our mode of existence which includes these things is not sinful within itself, but has become so through our self-centred, sinful fear
God doesn't cause us to suffer, but the world he created becomes evil through our sinful way of living in it/responding to it
Suffering is therefore brought by the human race as a whole upon itself
God as Ultimately Ordaining Sin and Suffering
Augustine denies that God has any responsibility for sin and suffering, whereas Schliermacher openly accepts God's part in it
God willed and continues to will its existence and knows the course his creation will take
Schliermacher's position
We are conscious of God acting redemptively, which means that there is a need for redemption and therefore the opposite pole of sin within God's purpose
God is therefore responsible
As we are yet to be in God's 'likeness', there must still be a defect in us and this is 'sin'
'Sin-consciouness' is a necessary part of God-consciousness, and we still bear personal freedom and responsibility
Instrumental view of evil
Schliermacher: Evil ultimately serves the good purpose of God
Hick responds with a car crash analogy: surgery is good, but we don't arrange car crashes so that we can perform it.
Sin, Schleiermacher and Hick observe, is utterly contrary to God’s desire and plan
"Obvious" objection: since god wills redemption and this presupposes sin, God wills sin
For Schliermacher, man is created at a distance from God and sin occurs as a preparation for Grace rather than a response to the damage of the fall (Augustine)
Hick: we want to say that sin is bad but don't want to magnify this so much as to create a dualist counterforce to God. This brings us back to an instrumentalist view of evil.
Hick says that the danger is that when we admit that sinfulness is somehow part of the Divine Will, we lose sight of the appalling reality of suffering
Man's beginning and end
Scliermacher uses the first Adam and second Adam as the stages of development rather than 'image' and 'likeness'
He also rejects Augustinian and Calvinist predestination, instead being a universalist and believing that everyone will eventually be saved by God
"Through the power of redemption there will one day be a universal restoration of all souls”