Classical Theodicies

• Irenaeus

  • We are created in God's image and grow into his likeness
  • God's world contains the potential for evil
  • Suffering helps us to develop
  • We have free will to respond to this and each other
  • We deserve to be rewarded in Heaven
• Augustine

  • Based on Genesis
  • God created a perfect world - evil not his fault
  • Adam + Eve misused their free will to bring evil into the world
  • Natural evil is a punishment for this
  • We all inherit original sin
  • We all deserve to be punished in Hell
• Augustine described evil as being the 'privation of good'