What did John Hick believe about God?

During this stage Hick also developed his Irenaean “soul-making” theodicy in which he argued that God allows evil and suffering in the world in order to develop humans into virtuous creatures capable of following his will.

What does Hick say about evil?

Hick—Evil is a necessary possibility for persons to exist. Mackie—God could create wholly good persons. A “wholly good person” is a logical impossibility, a meaningless conjunction of words. Evil exists.

How does Hick solve the problem of evil?

In his theodicy, Hick argues that without free will, all people would be nothing more than a “pet animal” in a cage. Hick asserts that God had to create people with the ability to do evil, for otherwise, people would not be able to participate in “soul-making” which is what serves to bring men closer to God.

What did John Hick say about suffering?

John Hick transformed the shape of thinking about theodicy in contemporary philosophical theology with his conception of the world as a “vale of soul‐making.”1 Suffering, he argues, enables our development as spiritually and morally mature persons. Without suffering we could not cultivate virtue and character.

What is the importance of Soulmaking?

Soul-making is the theory that evil has to exist so that humans can develop their souls by living and becoming good, moral people. It gives humans a chance to learn from suffering and develop moral virtues.

Why God is most assuredly evil challenging the evil god challenge?

The evil God challenge argues that for every theodicy that justifies the existence of an omnibenevolent God in the face of evil, there is a mirror theodicy that can defend the existence of an omnimalevolent God in the face of good.

What causes evil?

Thus, even without specific problems such as pedophilia and psychopathy, evil behaviors can result from breakdowns in molecular mechanisms (alcohol), neural mechanisms (frontotemporal dementia), psychological mechanisms (poor impulse control), and social mechanisms (peer influence). Baron-Cohen, S. (2011).

What is the meaning of evil god?

In the Old Testament, evil is understood to be an opposition to God as well as something unsuitable or inferior such as the leader of the fallen angels Satan In the New Testament the Greek word poneros is used to indicate unsuitability, while kakos is used to refer to opposition to God in the human realm.