Abdullah HosseiniEskandian; gorbanali karimzadeh garamaleki; Abbas Abbaszadeh
Volume 11, Issue 2 , December 2023, , Pages 1-27
Abstract
The historical aspect of the problem of evil and the questions that it creates about the Existence of God and His Absolute Attributes, caused theodices and defenses to be explained in Christian theology in order to defend the doctrine of theism. Such an issue has caused wide-ranging debates about it ...
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The historical aspect of the problem of evil and the questions that it creates about the Existence of God and His Absolute Attributes, caused theodices and defenses to be explained in Christian theology in order to defend the doctrine of theism. Such an issue has caused wide-ranging debates about it from the first centuries of AD to the present day. Saint Augustine (354-430 AD), who is one of the most prominent Christian thinkers and had a great influence on Christian theology, made a tremendous effort in his works to explain the problem of evil and provide solutions to justify it. What is clear from Augustine's thoughts and opinions about evil is that he considers evil in a negative sense, not a positive one, and considers evil to be the misuse of things and objects that are intrinsically good. In this article, an attempt is made to investigate and analyze Augustine's theodicy and finally criticize it based on the principles of Shia theology.MethodologyIn this article, with a descriptive-analytical method and a critical approach, an attempt is made to investigate and analyze Augustine's theodicy and criticize it based on Shia theological principles.FindingsThe problem of evil was an influential and important issue in Augustine's life and was the main cause of some of the evolutions that occurred in his life. Therefore, he has made major and comprehensive discussions about the problem of evil in his works. Augustine's theodicy is influenced by the principles that Augustine believed in and solved the problem of evil based on them. These principles are influenced by Christian beliefs, and Augustine explained and solved the problem of evil based on them. From Augustine's point of view, God did not create and does not create any evil, and it is man who causes evil by misusing and abusing his will. Augustine has stated solutions such as “achieving good through evil”, “few evil and abundance of good”, “necessity of the evil for the system of creation” and “evil is relative” to justify the problem of evil (Copleston, 2009, vol. 2: p.107). The theodicy of Augustine sees God's relationship with creatures and the universe in the form of impersonal relationships (Sefidkhosh and Moradi, 2015: p. 77). Therefore, man was created as a part of a hierarchy of forms of existence that would be incomplete without Him, and man has absolute reliance on the Absolute Goodness of God and His Grace. According to the theodicy of Augustine, it is basically impossible to get rid of evil and obtain good affairs without the help of the Divine Will and the granting of grace from Him. Augustine considers evil to be non-existent and moral evil also comes from human will and action that abuses his will.Discussion and ConclusionThe principle of defending the existence of God and His Absolute Attributes, defending the best system of creation, free will, fall of man, original sin and Divine Grace are among the principles based on which Saint Augustine explained and solved the problem of evil. Augustine believes in his theodicy that everything that is and exists is good and negation is evil because it does not benefit from existence. The theodicy of Augustine sees God's relationship with creatures and the universe in the form of impersonal relationships (Augustine, 2006: p.103). Augustine considers evil to be not essential and inherent, but an accident affair that lacks essence and substance and means the lack of perfection in an object. He believes that the minimal existence of evil is accepted and its negation is expressed by considering its minimal aspect (Augustine, 2012: p. 120). Augustine considers evil to be non-existent, which is why it does not deserve the existence of a cause; because the first and most important condition for the existence of an object is to have a cause (Brown, 2000: p.73). According to Augustine, any object or phenomenon that has stages of perfection and is useful is good, and if an object lacks stages of perfection, it cannot be called good anymore, but it is an evil that has no cause, and since it has no cause, it does not exist, and as a result, it is a non-existent affair. Augustine divides evil into moral and natural evil, and considers moral evil as human sin and natural evil as the punishment that a person must taste natural evil because of committing moral evil (De Paulo, 2006: p.34). Finally, it should be acknowledged that Augustine in his theodicy, despite the many efforts he had in solving the problem of evil, but this theodicy based on the approach of Shia theology faces criticisms such as “the lack of effect of original sin in committing moral evil”, “incorrect explanation of the relationship between evil and the material world”, “incorrect explanation of the agent of the realization of natural evil” and etc., which makes the acceptance and acceptability of his theodicy difficult.
tayyebeh shaddel; Hossein Atrak
Volume 10, Issue 1 , December 2021, , Pages 1-25
Abstract
Absolute Creationism or Modified Platonism is the answer to the challenge that Platonism poses to theism. The main concern of this view is the reconcile between Classical theism and Platonism. Absolute creationism, in fact, claims that necessary truths, like possible beings, depend on God. Thus, in the ...
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Absolute Creationism or Modified Platonism is the answer to the challenge that Platonism poses to theism. The main concern of this view is the reconcile between Classical theism and Platonism. Absolute creationism, in fact, claims that necessary truths, like possible beings, depend on God. Thus, in the ontological inventory we do not faced a being who exists independently of God, and God is the only independent being. Thus the claim of contemporary Platonists, who argue that some abstract objects, such as necessary truths, necessarily exist, is eternal and uncreated, provided that these truths, while necessary and eternal, are created and dependent on God is accepted. William Craig, the contemporary American theist philosopher, believes that this view faces a number of problems, such as conflate of conceptualism, the Vicious Circularity (Bootstrapping objection), incoherence with free will of God, the traditional theory of creation and traded biblical doctrine of creation with emanationism. Although some of Craig's objections are not to the view of absolute Creationism; But absolute Creationism faces serious problems, and it seems that it is possible to defend the Cartesian view of Universal Possibilism. This paper explains and examines Absolute Creationism and Craig's criticisms
Hasan Ahmadizadeh
Volume 4, Issue 2 , June 2014, , Pages 1-20
Abstract
Today Christian theology, more than ever, is dealt with the problem of the existence and knowledge of God and especially the relation between God's knowledge and His Will, on the one hand, and human Will, on the other hand. In the contemporary era, with the advent of new philosophical beliefs in the ...
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Today Christian theology, more than ever, is dealt with the problem of the existence and knowledge of God and especially the relation between God's knowledge and His Will, on the one hand, and human Will, on the other hand. In the contemporary era, with the advent of new philosophical beliefs in the West, Christian theology has experienced different philosophical approaches of which theistic or classical theology, neo-classical theism and Open theism can be considered as three most prominent among them. Each of the three philosophical-theological schools, have tried to present an image of God and respond to the many traditional or new questions concerning God and his relationship with the universe, especially with the human and his will. In this article, we will attempt to provide a general picture of the three approaches and analyze their flaws and criticisms, especially the criticisms raised by Christian philosophers.
Qorban Elmi; Mohammad Hossein Mohammadpour
Volume 2, Issue 2 , January 2014, , Pages 59-79
Abstract
This paper aims at studying Nagarjuna's approach on the question of God's existence. The study reveals that resorting to theological views such astheism, atheism, agnosticism and pantheism cannot present a correct understanding of God's existence from Madhyamika's perspective. By making a critical analysis, ...
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This paper aims at studying Nagarjuna's approach on the question of God's existence. The study reveals that resorting to theological views such astheism, atheism, agnosticism and pantheism cannot present a correct understanding of God's existence from Madhyamika's perspective. By making a critical analysis, Nagarjuna attempts to reach an idea of a personal God that the public have. This paper tries to systematize Nagarjuna's arguments with a method of philosophy of religion. Unlike what is believed, Madhyamika's real approach on the existence of God is neither monotheistic nor atheistic; because this school accepts neither the statement "there is God' nor the statement "there is no God'.
