1. NATURAL EVIL came about through the loss of order in nature, due to human sin.

2. Moral evil came from the knowledge of good and evil which humanity had discovered through their disobedience.

3. St Augustine (Background)
St. Augustine was a North African bishop. Augustine uses the creation story as his reference point when trying to explain evil. He was adamant that this world was created good, as it says in Genesis 1:31:
‘God saw all that he had made, and behold it was very good’.
Therefore, originally there was no evil within creation.
Augustine’s theodicy is based on two theories: - Privation of the Good and the Free Will Defence. He argued that evil does not come from God, He created the world perfect, never intending there to be any form of evil; and that Adam and Eve caused evil to enter the world through their wilful disobedience of God.

4. Augustinian Theodicy in Short
God is perfect and made the world perfect
Evil is not a substance but an absence of Good
God can not be blamed – as he did not create a deprivation
N.B. There is an important difference between absence and lack. Augustine’s idea of privation applies when you lack something you should have:
If you cannot walk, you lack the health you should have (privation)
If you are mean, you lack the qualities of generosity and charity (privation in Augustine’s thinking)
Example 1 concerns a privation which you are not to blame for
Example 2 concerns a privation which you are to blame for because you have made a choice about how to behave

5. Augustine considered that the responsibility for the existence of evil should be entirely removed from God and blamed on dependent beings who have free will.
Evil comes from humans who choose to turn away from God
The possibility of evil is necessary as only God can be perfect
Everybody is guilty as everyone is seminally present in Adam
Therefore everyone deserves to be punished
What do you think about these statements?

6. Where there’s a will….
Augustine believed we could know the good and still not do it because of our will
Free choice is central to doing good
To genuinely love (God for Augustine) then we must be free to give it
Augustine believes that a world with the evils that follow from free will is better than a world without free will

7. The Fall – humanity’s choice to
God’s
Creation
= Good
Eden =
harmony
The Fall – humanity’s choice to
Disobey God
Original sin created – disharmony
between God and his creation
Natural and Moral evils
are the result of Free Will
The consequence of
disharmony = suffering
All human’s share in this
sin because
they are seminally present
in Adam

8. Why create creatures with Free Will?
Augustine believed:
Free will is more valuable than having robots always doing God’s will
Evil is a price worth paying for human freedom
This means:
God allows evil and sustains a world in which evil occurs
If there was no free will = no good choices so nothing to bring about happiness, joy, hope or even the choice to marry and have children
Aesthetic Principle – the contrast between good and bad seen in the universe highlights the beauty of Goodness

9. Natural evil is a fitting punishment and came about because human action destroyed the natural order
Therefore God is right not to intervene and put a stop to suffering
God saving some through Jesus Christ shows he is merciful as well as just

10. Augustinian Theodicy Continued
Evil is therefore unintended and only enters the world because it has moved away from God.
Moral evil is explained through the occurrence of original sin. Humanity’s fall from grace leaves us open to being less than God intended.
Natural evil is explained by the disharmony original sin brought into the world, damaging the perfect creation even the natural parts of it.

11. It would not be right for God to intervene to put a stop to suffering.
God is JUST. Therefore, he has to allow for us to face the punishment of sin, which is DEATH.
Augustine concludes that, if God was simply just, everyone would get their full and rightful punishment in HELL.
However, in his infinite love and grace, he sent his one and only son, Jesus Christ, to take the punishment for all of our sin and to die on the cross so that all those who believe and accept can be saved.

12. The principle of plenitude
The sheer variety of creatures within the world leads to inequalities between them in terms of beauty, strength, intelligence, and so on. Therefore, each creature is in some way imperfect. Why did God create imperfect creatures?
The two responses given to this are: a) the principle of plenitude and b) that the world is created to be an appropriate environment for humans as moral beings.
Augustine takes the Greek philosopher Plotinus’ idea that plenitude means that all possible forms of existence should exist. Augustine argued that God created a hierarchy of beings; the consequence of this is that possible creatures must be imperfect and unequal.
This answer, for some, shows Augustine’s insensitivity to animal pain. As with many ancient thinkers it is not an issue that concerns him. It is also difficult to know how far to press the idea of plenitude. Are 100 types of dog enough; could there be more?

13. What are four key problems with Augustine’s theodicy?
If God = omnipotent then the Devil and humans are under his control so he must take final responsibility
if God has limited his omnipotence by giving out free will then there’s no guarantee good will triumph over evil
if God could foresee the outcome why did he create?
it is morally unacceptable to some to balance evil with good – hell seems to be inconsistent with a benevolent God

14. Analysis 1
Augustine does not adequately explain the complexities of the human will. His concept of finite perfection seems to be a contradiction in terms. It is hard to see why the first human beings would sin and if they did have the ability to sin, surely they were not perfect.
Mackie suggested that an omnipotent God should have the ability to create free creatures who always do the right thing. However, Hick has rejected this and argued that this would not represent genuine freedom. Hick has suggested that a ‘good free will’ should never choose evil.

15. Analysis 2
Augustine’s explanation that sin arose from the ‘mystery of human and angelic willing’ contradicts his belief in predestination. If God has predestined that some humans will be saved, then by consequence some are indirectly sentenced to damnation. In a way, the fact that God knew all this and still proceeded with creation makes him responsible for evil. (Mackie calls this omnificence: the fact that God is all powerful and all knowing means that ultimately he must bear responsibility for everything that takes place.)
Some have defended Augustine’s idea of predestination by reference to the foreknowledge of God. Because God knows in advance all circumstances and possible outcomes, he foresees the circumstances in which some will receive salvation and other will reject it. He predestines on the basis of his foreknowledge.

16. Analysis 3
The idea of an almost genetic transmission of sin may raise questions about God. God knew that Adam would sin when he made him.
Augustine would reply that God also foresaw a greater good, that some humans would be redeemed and predestined to salvation. Yet in order to make this work, it has to become similar to Irenaeus’ theodicy (soul-making theodicy, and the idea that suffering makes you stronger)
A strength of this theodicy is that we can understand that good and evil, are relative terms, like up and down or past and future; one cannot have one unless one has both. If this is correct, if it is impossible for one to exist without the other, then perhaps God was justified in allowing the existence of evil because it was only by doing so that he could create a world containing good.

17. What is Schleiermacher’s criticism of Augustine’s Theodicy?
Why would God’s first creations who were flawless and lacked nothing sin when they were enjoying the happiness of God?