The Irenaean Theodicy, an alternative to Calvinism

[Humble_Disciple]

According to Calvinism's theodicy, all evil acts in the world are sovereignly decreed by God, according to His purposes, however hidden from us they might be. If your daughter is raped, for example, their theodicy would tell you to find solace in the belief that it was all part of God's sovereign decree, working for a good beyond any of our understanding.

Calvinism's theodicy is based on Augustine, who deviated from the church's previous teachings on free will:

Before Augustine, Irenaeus offered perhaps a more satisfying theodicy, which is more compatible with Arminianism, Wesleyanism, etc. No one can accuse Irenaeus of Pelagianism, since he lived during the second century, long before Pelagius.

While Augustine was a former Manichean, a Gnostic sect, Irenaeus defended free will against the Gnostics:

Men are possessed of free will, and endowed with the faculty of making a choice. It is not true, therefore, that some are by nature good, and others bad.
CHURCH FATHERS: Against Heresies, IV.37 (St. Irenaeus)

While I disagree with John Hick's belief that spiritual development continues in the afterlife, so that all people will eventually be saved, he more or less presents a fair picture of how Irenaeus answered the problem of evil:

Soul-making. Inspired by the thought of the early Church Father, Irenaeus of Lyon (c.130-c.202 CE), John Hick has put forward in a number of writings, but above all in his 1966 classic Evil and the God of Love, a theodicy that appeals to the good of soul-making (see also Hick 1968, 1977, 1981, 1990). According to Hick, the divine intention in relation to humankind is to bring forth perfect finite personal beings by means of a “vale of soul-making” in which humans may transcend their natural self-centredness by freely developing the most desirable qualities of moral character and entering into a personal relationship with their Maker. Any world, however, that makes possible such personal growth cannot be a hedonistic paradise whose inhabitants experience a maximum of pleasure and a minimum of pain. Rather, an environment that is able to produce the finest characteristics of human personality – particularly the capacity to love – must be one in which “there are obstacles to be overcome, tasks to be performed, goals to be achieved, setbacks to be endured, problems to be solved, dangers to be met” (Hick 1966: 362). A soul-making environment must, in other words, share a good deal in common with our world, for only a world containing great dangers and risks, as well as the genuine possibility of failure and tragedy, can provide opportunities for the development of virtue and character.
Evidential Problem of Evil, The | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

 

[Hammster]

Are you positing that evil acts occur outside of God’s control?

 

[HTacianas]

Are you positing that evil acts occur outside of God’s control?

You're jumping to an unwarranted conclusion. It is not that evil acts occur outside of God's control, but that evil acts are freely chosen by those who commit them. It is as old as Genesis:

Gen 4:7

“If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

 

[Humble_Disciple]

Are you positing that evil acts occur outside of God’s control?

How can humans be responsible for their actions if God causes them to sin? I hope you don't believe that He does. The church fathers, before Augustine, held very strongly against this view, as does Jeremiah 18:12.

 

[Hammster]

You're jumping to an unwarranted conclusion. It is not that evil acts occur outside of God's control, but that evil acts are freely chosen by those who commit them. It is as old as Genesis:

Gen 4:7

“If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

For the record, Reformed Theology does not teach that God causes evil acts.

 

[Hammster]

How can humans be responsible for their actions if God causes them to sin? I hope you don't believe that He does. The church fathers, before Augustine, held very strongly against this view, as does Jeremiah 18:12.

God doesn’t cause man to sin. He does choose to restrain certain sins, though.

 

[ripple the car]

I think, Humble, the more you read the Early Church Fathers, the more really, really cool stuff you will find.

 

[Rescued One]

Saint Augustine?

 

[The Liturgist]

Saint Augustine?

Of Hippo, not Canterbury.

For that matter, St. Irenaeus was bishop of Lyons, or Lugdunum as it was called at that time, but is not usually counted as a Latin father as everything he wrote was in fluent Koine Greek. Fr. John Behr, the emeritus dean of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, and lately a professor at Oxford, called him the first real theologian (in the scholarly sense as opposed to those who have been blessed with theologia, which is to say actual experiential knowledge of God).