Read the words and discuss what you think they might mean before revealing the definition.
Read the words and discuss what you think they might mean before revealing the definition.
Natural Evil– events caused by nature that cause suffering but over which human beings have little or no control e.g. earthquakes.
Moral evil– events in which responsible actions by human beings cause suffering or harm e.g. war.
Theodicy– a justification of the righteousness of God given the existence of evil.
Omnipotence– the characteristic of being all-powerful. Some philosophers exclude the power to do the logically impossible.
Free will– the ability to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention.
Omniscience– the characteristic of being all-knowing of all things actual and possible.
Ex nihilo– a Latin phrase meaning ‘out of nothing’. Refers to the belief that God did not use any previously existing material when he created.
Soul-deciding – the Augustinian-type theodicy in which people’s response to evil and God’s rescue plan decides their destiny.
Soul-making– the Irenaean-type theodicy in which the presence of evil is deliberate and helps people to grow and develop.
Epistemic distance– a distance of knowledge of God. God is hidden and so allows human beings to choose freely.
Second-order goods– moral goods that result from a response to evil.
Classical theism– the belief in a personal deity, creator of everything that exists, who is distinct from that creation and is sustainer and preserver of the universe.
Privation– the absence or lack of something that ought to be there. In relation to evil as a privation, then evil is seen as an absence of good.
Eschatological justification– evil and suffering are justified because of the eventual outcome.