The Problem of Evil
JOHN HICK
John Hick defined evil as “physical pain, mental suffering and moral wickedness”. For
Hick, the consequence of evil is suffering
NATURAL EVIL = the apparent malfunctioning of the natural world e.g. diseases and
natural disasters
MORAL EVIL = the result of human immorality e.g. genocide
THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
The monotheistic God of Christianity, Judaism and Islam assumes the divine qualities
of omnipotence, omniscience and omni-benevolence. However, the existence of evil
and suffering in the world provides a challenge to the loving God of classical theism.
AUGUSTINE
Augustine, in his book ‘Confessions,’ recognised this problem: “Either God is not able
to abolish evil or not willing; if he is not able then he is not all-powerful, if he is not
willing then he is not all-good.”
INCONSISTENT TRIAD
The problem of evil can be viewed as an inconsistent triad:
The three are logically inconsistent. If God is omnipotent, he is aware of the existing
evil and suffering and knows how to put a stop to it. If God is omni benevolent he will
want to put a stop to it. Yet evil and suffering does exist.
DAVID HUME
The atheist David Hume argued that only three possibilities exist:
I. God is not omnipotent
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II. God is not omni benevolent
III. Evil does not exist
Since we have sufficient direct experience to support the existence of evil, if God
exists he is either an impotent God or a malicious God; not the God of classical
theism. Hume concluded that God therefore does not exist.
ANTONY FLEW
Antony Flew wrote that the biggest challenge to the believer is accepting that the
existence of evil and suffering is a major problem that demands an adequate
response. The problem faced by monotheists demands a solution, not of qualification;
in which the nature of God is arbitrarily changed to suit different circumstances – this
concept of God ‘dies the death of a thousand qualifications,’ but by the rational
justification of God’s right to allow evil and suffering to continue despite his ability to
stop it.
QUALIFICATION AND THEODICY
Aquinas argued that God’s goodness is infinitely different to human goodness
(although he does maintain that both have points of correspondence). Therefore, it is
conceivable that God allows evil and suffering to exist as a part of his greater plan of
love. Different theodicies have thus developed – logical theories that justify the
existence of evil and suffering usually on the basis that they are a necessary condition
of God’s greater plan.
The Problem of Evil
AUGUSTINIAN THEODICY (SOUL-DECIDING THEODICY)
Based on the narratives of Genesis 1-3, Augustine’s theodicy argues that God created
the world and it was perfect, without the existence of evil or suffering.
Genesis 1:31: “God saw all that he had made and saw that it was very good”
Augustine defined evil as the privation of goodness, just as blindness is a privation of
sight. Since evil is not an entity in itself, just like blindness is not an entity in itself,
God could not have created it.
The existence of evil originates from free will possessed by angels and humans, who
turned their back on God and settled for a lesser form of goodness thus creating a
privation of goodness as the narrative of ‘the fall’ in Genesis 3 tries to explain. As a
result the state of perfection was ruined by sin.
Natural Evil: Occurred because of the loss of order in nature, defined by Augustine
as the ‘penal consequences of sin’
Moral Evil: Derived from human free will and disobedience
Augustine reasoned that all humans are worthy of the punishment of evil and
suffering because we are “seminally present in the loins of Adam”’ deserving of the
punishment for original sin.
God has the right not to intervene and put a stop to evil and suffering since he is a
just God and we are worthy of punishment. It is by his grace and infinite love
however, that we are able to accept his offer of salvation and eternal life in heaven.
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CRITICISMS
One of the principal critics of the Augustinian Theodicy is F.D.E Schleiermacher. He
argued that it was a logical contradiction to make the claim that a perfectly created
world went wrong since this implies that evil created itself ex nihilno which is a logical
contradiction. Either the world was not perfect to start with or God made it go wrong
– if this is the case it is God and not humans who are to blame and the existence of
evil is not justified.
If the world was perfect and there was no knowledge of good and evil, how could
Adam and Eve have the freedom to disobey God if goodness and evil were as yet
unknown? The disobedience of Adam and Eve and the angels implies that there
already was knowledge of good and evil. Augustine’s interpretation of the tree of
knowledge therefore is questionable.
Augustine’s view is also inconsistent with the theory of evolution which asserts that
the universe began in chaos and is continually developing, not diminishing over time.
Augustine’s view that every human in seminally present in the loins Adam is
biologically inaccurate and the question can be raised; is God really justified in
allowing punishment of one human being for the sin of another human being?
The Problem of Evil
IRENAEN THEODICY (SOUL-MAKING THEODICY)
Like Augustine, Irenaeus argued that evil is the consequence of human free will and
disobedience. However, unlike Augustine Irenaeus believed that God was partly
responsible for evil and suffering. Irenaeus argued that God created the world
imperfectly so that imperfect immature beings could develop through a soul-making
process into a ‘child of God,’ in his perfect likeness.
For Irenaeus, God could not have created humans in perfect likeness of himself
because attaining the likeness of God requires the willing co-operation of humans.
God thus had to give humans free will in order for them to be able to willingly co-
operate. Since freedom requires the ability to choose good over evil, God had to
permit evil and suffering to occur.
Natural Evil: Has the divine purpose to develop qualities such as compassion through
the soul-making process
Moral Evil: Derived from human free will and disobedience
Irenaeus concluded that eventually evil and suffering will be overcome and humans
will develop into a perfect likeness of God, and everyone will have eternal life in
heaven.
HICKS REFORMATION OF THE IRENAEN THEODICY
John Hick highlighted the importance of God allowing humans to develop themselves.
He reasoned that if God made us perfect, then we would have the goodness of robots,
which would love God automatically without any further deliberation. God wants
humans to be genuinely loving and therefore gives them free will. If God interfered or
became too close, humans would be unable to make a free choice and thus would not
benefit from the developmental process. This is known as the counterfactual
hypothesis. Therefore God created humans at an epistemic distance from himself, a
distance of knowledge.
CRITICISMS
• The idea that everyone goes to heaven is not just, it is inconsistent with Orthodox
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Christianity and ‘The Fall’ of Genesis 3. It also demotes Jesus’ role from ‘saviour’ to
‘moral role model’
• Is the magnitude of suffering really necessary for soul making? e.g. the Holocaust
• D.Z. Phillips in ‘The Concept of Prayer’ argued that the continuation of evil and
suffering is not a demonstration of love from an omni benevolent God
COUNTER ARGUMENTS
• If life suddenly ceased to exist God would not have achieved his purpose
• The supreme life in Heaven is required in order to justify the amplitude of suffering
and evil on earth
• Some ‘evil people’ cannot be held responsible for their evil actions; for example
mentally disabled people
FREE-WILL DEFENCE
The free-will defense incorporates the notion of free-will underlined in the Augustinian
and Irenaen theodicies. The free-will defense is based on the premise that moral evil
stems from moral agents, and free agency is a necessary condition for human
development. The goodness of free agency outweighs the evil derived from free moral
agents. Supporters of the free-will defense argue that divine intervention would
compromise human freedom thus preventing human development. Swinburne used
the example of death – death brings about suffering but is necessary to ensure
humans take their responsibilities seriously. Swinburne wrote: ‘If there is always a
second chance there is no risk.’
CRITIQUE OF THE FREE-WILL DEFENCE
The question can be raised – is theϖ magnitude of suffering really necessary for
human development? Hick however argued that either we demand a world free of evil
and suffering in which there would be no free-will or we accept the world as it is now.
If we say that some evils are too great then we begin to go down a scale of evils until
even the slightest evil becomes too great e.g. if we say cancer is too severe, what
about heart disease, flu or even a headache?
Some argue that God could have created free agents without risking bringing evil and
suffering into the world - there is nothing logically inconsistent about a free agent that
always chooses goodness over evil. However, Hick argued that is such a case humans
would not be truly free since their actions would have been decided before they came
into existence, even if they were under the illusion that they were acting freely.
If I had the chance to prevent a murder from happening but chose to let itϖ happen I
could not use the free-will defense to justify my inaction. It would be unacceptable for
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a human being to argue that they were right in not preventing the murder, even if
they were able to, simply because they wanted to preserve the free-will of the
murderer. So why should this justification be more acceptable coming from God?
