2C Religious Responses (Irenaean) Flashcards

1
Q

Irenaeus: Why does evil exist?

A
  • A deliberate action of an omnibenevolent God so that humans can grow to be spiritually perfect, as we have been made imperfect.
  • Certain moral qualities are intrinsic to humans but second-order goods (e.g. compassion, courage, forgiveness) can only develop as a response to evil
  • ∴ evil = necessary facet of life
  • Evil allows us to appreciate good as ‘good’ is a qualitative judgement so there must be other, less good things for goodness to exist at all
  • Ability to freely choose to do good = instrumental in achieving God’s purpose for his creation
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2
Q

Irenaeus: What do humans need to grow from?

A

The image to the likeness of God

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3
Q

Irenaeus: What is the difference between the image and the likeness of God?

A
  • Image: Possessing potential qualities of God’s spiritual perfection + having free will
  • Likeness: Actualising the qualities
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4
Q

Irenaeus: How do we develop into the likeness of God?

A
  • Through trials/tribulations of everyday life
  • For every good choice made in a moral situation, the individual develops more fully towards spiritual maturity
  • We must overcome difficulties, cope with our imperfections/limitations, and resist temptation to do wrong
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5
Q

Irenaeus: We can only be in the likeness of God…

A
  • …after death.

* Essential part of his theodicy = everyone should live after death

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6
Q

What analogy did Irenaeus use to explain goodness?

A
  • God = craftsman; humans = material
  • Humans should allow God to mould them into perfection by acting in faith and allowing good/bad experiences to make us a perfectly crafted item
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7
Q

Irenaeus: What happens to those that resist God?

A
  • Punished in the next life
  • God’s mercy continues into the next life ∴ the individuals will have the opportunity to earn his forgiveness and develop spiritual perfection
  • This eschatological verification for evil allows God to remain good in the face of temporary suffering experienced by creation
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8
Q

How did Hick develop Irenaeus’ theodicy?

A

• In his book, ‘Evil and the God of Love’, describes it as a soul-making theodicy

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9
Q

Hick: Explain soul-making.

A
  • He put forward John Keats’ idea of the world being a “vale of soul-making”
  • A process where the soul is developing towards spiritual perfection by gaining the wisdom to make the correct choices in moral situations when faced with the ambiguities of life
  • The world is a proving ground to earn salvation, not simply by belief in a saviour figure
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10
Q

Hick: How can humans be truly free?

A
  • We had to be created at an epistemic distance from God
  • Humans are placed in a world where the existence and non-existence of God = equally likely
  • True human freedom exists in terms of how they respond to God
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11
Q

Hick: Why could God not create humans who were spiritually perfect?

A

• Goodness developed through free choice is more valuable than goodness that is “ready-made”

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12
Q

Hick: Why could God not create humans who were immediately aware of his existence?

A
  • Restricts choices

* The feeling of always being watched would mean that we make decisions in this light

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13
Q

Describe the challenge to the concept of universal salvation through eschatological verification.

A
  • It is unjust
  • If we will all eventually achieve perfection, how does this encourage good behaviour in this life?
  • Undermines efforts to develop spiritual maturity.
  • Do we have the free will to refuse spiritual development?
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14
Q

Describe the challenge to evil and suffering being used as a tool.

A
  • Suffering should never be used as an instrument by an omnibenevolent God
  • More akin to abuse than love
  • Could the greater good not be achieved w/o it?
  • Seems to make the role of Jesus as a saviour superfluous/redundant/unnecessary.
  • Why should the natural environment be created in a slow, pain-filled process?
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15
Q

Describe the challenge to the immensity and unequal distribution of evil and suffering.

A
  • Immense suffering does not make up for any possible reward of spiritual perfection.
  • Suffering is not evenly-spread which implies inconsistency with God’s mechanism of perfection. Will those in Africa receive ‘better’ treatment in the afterlife?
  • Does the end justify the means?
  • Intensity of suffering makes it a ‘soul-breaking’ theodicy
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16
Q

Describe the challenge (from me) of the image/likeness.

A
  • How can God make imperfect beings if we are made in his image and likeness?
  • Even when accepting Irenaeus’ differences between the two, being made in the image still means that God has some form of imperfection.