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The Problem of Evil and Suffering

Augustine's theodicy: privation, the fall and the Cross

  • 3 things to know
  • Component 2

Overview

Claim that humanity was seminally present in Adam, moral objection concerning hell and schleiermacher's logical objection to Augustine.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What is evil, in Augustine's account, and what does that imply about what God created?

Key term

What does Augustine mean by calling evil a privation?

Key term

Why does the privation view protect God's goodness?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What does Augustine mean by calling evil a privation?

    Model answer

    Evil is a privation of good, meaning a lack in something that ought to be whole. Blindness as an absence of sight is the standard illustration.

  2. 2

    Why does the privation view protect God's goodness?

    Model answer

    God creates substances, and evil is not a substance at all. Responsibility for evil therefore falls outside God's creative act.

  3. 3

    In what state does Augustine say God made the world?

    Model answer

    Augustine holds that God made a world that was wholly good and perfectly ordered. Genesis 1 supplies his warrant, where God sees that creation is good.

  4. 4

    How does evil enter the world on Augustine's account?

    Model answer

    Angels and then human beings misused their free will and turned away from God. Sin is the origin of evil, and no defect in creation is to blame.

  5. 5

    What happened at the fall, according to Augustine?

    Model answer

    Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and the harmony of creation was broken. Human nature and the natural world alike became disordered.

  6. 6

    Explain the claim that humanity was seminally present in Adam.

    Model answer

    Augustine holds that the whole human race was present in the loins of Adam. Every person therefore inherits Adam's guilt and shares the punishment.

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