SOUL MAKING THEODICY [HICK]

HICK

  • Inspired by St Ireneaus who argues humans are created imperfect, but then have to 'rise to perfection' and work towards achieving the 'likeness' of God during their lives on earth
  • The world is a place of SOUL MAKING- therefore has to contain a full range of moral and natural evil so humans can develop virtues such as courage, sympathy empathy & compassion
  • These second order virtues are the qualities by which we become the 'children of god' Our suffering and response to it makes us virtuous & christ-like

ST AUGUSTINE

  • All humans are born sinful(original sin) because they inherit sin from Adam and Eve who ate from tree.
  • This explains the cause of evil & suffering we depend on Gods grace to be saved from our sin, not everyone is saved

ST IRENEUS

  • humans didn't 'fall' from perfection, God inteltionally created us imperfect
  • This is because throughput our lives, we will grow into perfect beings who are capable of entering heaven If we follow Jesus' example
  • we develop and grow through soul-making into 'children of God'
  • Hick emphasises the idea of God as a father- a father cannot force his children to love him
  • instead children love their parents as a free response to their parents care
  • parents develop their children character by teaching them how to live responsibly within the world

God set an epistemic distance between himself and humanity - so human cannot know for sure there is a God
-This means having a relationship with God is a choice, reflecting the fact a loving relationship is only authentic and valuable when freely chosen

STRENGTHS

  • Epistemic distance can justify any kind of evil by saying its beyond our understanding
    • distance between God & humanity means our knowledge is limited
    • heaven for all justifies the means
  • Its consistent with St Irenaeus' ideas about the purpose of evil ( it has Christian roots)
    • he believed the purpose of god creating this world was soul-making for rational moral agents
    • we are not created perfectly but in a state of imperfection- humans are a work in progress
  • Consistent with evolution and the idea humanity develops over time
    • Darwins theory teaches us that humans physically developed over time
    • similarly hicks theodicy teaches us that our should develop over time
    • it makes sense humans are a 'work in progress'
  • idea of universal salvation is compatible with beliefs about Gods omnibenevolence
    • Hicks theodicy teaches us that we all ultimately achieve Gods likeness and the perfection necessary to enter heaven
    • this is known as 'universalism'- the idea that everybody ultimately will be saved
    • this is arguably more benevolent than Augustines soul-deciding theodicy where only few will be saved
  • HOWEVER: is it really worth it? why do some people have to face so much suffering than others if we are all going to the same place afterwards anyway?

WEAKNESSES

  • This theory doesn't justify pointless suffering in the world
    • whilst some may actually help us to grow, there is some suffering that appears completely pointless e.g animal suffering
  • HICKS RESPONSE: EPSITEMIC DISTANCE- pontless suffering is needed to maintain epistemic distance between humanity and god
  • DZ PHILLIPS: theory doesnt justify the quantity of evil in the world
    • does the end really justify the means? you cannot see evil and suffering as instrumental for a greater good
    • we shouldn't use other peoples suffering as a means to an end
    • we cant justify the existence of horrendous evils by simply stating we need to grow deeply in responding to them
  • HICKS RESPONSE: all evils are a matter of degree- if we remove evils like the Holocaust then the next-to-worst evils will seem the very worst
  • if humans were made imago dei surely they were made fully perfected rather than simply with this potential
  • HICKS RESPONSE: Genesis says we were made in the image and likeness of God
    • we were made with this image and then grow into his likeness over time
    • were created with potential rather than completion
  • The idea of universalism is rejected by some christians-this arguably undermines Hicks theodicy
    • According to hicks theodicy, everyone will ultimately be saved.
    • This raises questions with some christians: what's the point of Jesus' sacrificial death and resurrection if everybody can become worthy of salvation on their own
    • What dies this mean for traditional doctrines of election and judgement- will people who cause suffering be saved?
    • what does his mean for the 'sola Christus' principle if were all saved anyway, why go through so much suffering?