Explain Augustine's Theodicy

A theodicy is an attempt to explain evil and suffering without modifying or restricting the classical definition of God (omnipotent, omniscient, benevolent).

The basis's of Augustine's ideas come from the creation story which he views as being real and how the world was actually created and that we are all descendants of Adam and Eve.

Augustine says that God is perfect and the world he created reflects that perfection. Humans were created with free will so they have the choice to be able to turn away from God. Sin and death entered the world through Adam and Eve, and their disobedience, the Fall. Adam and Eve's disobedience brought about 'disharmony' in both humanity and Creation. The whole of humanity experiences this disharmony because we were all 'seminally' present in the loins of Adam. Natural evil is consequence of this disharmony of nature brought about by the Fall, therefore God is justified in not intervening because the suffering is a consequence of human action.

Augustine bases his argument on the idea that free will was given, but was then misused. According to him, God created everything perfect, in complete harmony and balance, without evil, but with the gift of free will.

Two events then occurred, which were the result of the misuse of this gift. Firstly, there was the fall of the angels, where some angels, led by Lucifer, made the free choice to rebel against the goodness of God, thus creating evil in the heavens. This evil came to earth in the second event, when Adam and Eve where tempted by a serpent, and then made a similar free choice to rebel against the goodness of God. This evil disrupted the balance of harmony which had existed, leading to the world as today. Augustine claimed that 'All evil is either sin or the punishment for sin'.

Augustine's theory is that of 'privation' - evil is not a substance it is a deprivation i.e. an absence of something. Augustine uses the analogy of blindness - blindness is not an entity but the absence of sight. For Augustine, evil came about as a direct result of the misuse of free will. All suffering is therefore a consequence of this abuse of free will. This includes natural evil as well as moral evil. Natural evil has come about through an imbalance in nature brought about by the Fall. Suffering is a punishment for original sin and because we all are seminally present in the Lyons of Adam, we need to suffer for original sin.

Mankind can be redeemed by striving for good, turning our backs on our sinful ways and by following the example of Jesus Christ.

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