Theodicy Analysis

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The pervasive problem of evil in the world has pleagued the Christian faith that proclaim God as a good and perfect God. There has been a need for theist to address this issues as a disclaimer for those that use evil as an reason to disprove that God could be good, perfect or even exist. Therefore, theist theologians and philosophers have turned to theodicies to attempt to explain the problem of evil. Theodicy is an attempt to explain why God permits evil in the world. This essay will show the historical approach to theodicy, the opposition to said theodicies and why theodicies could still play an important role today. Historical theodicy has been approached to answer evil. Theodicies have traditionally been a theistic response to atheistic …show more content…

For Hick good could be defined in two ways. First, human develop themselves through free choices into moral beings. Second, beings enter into an eternal life with fellowship with God. The problem with this argument is that it fails to address what happens in the prevention of evil and the good that results from that. This opens the door to a opposition. Emmanuel Levinas argues that the end of theodicy has come with the close of the 20th century. The mass atrocities of the 20th century led Levinas to declare that there was no possible argument for a perfect God in the face of useless suffering. However, there is still a need for theodicy in today's world. The need of theodicy in the ongoing face of suffering the world is ever apparent for Christians. The Christian faith being based on grace demands a response to evil in the world. However, the Christian response is that hope for the theist is based on the age to come. For that to happen God must be good and just. Theist must continue to deal with the difficult question of evil in the world to reach an understanding that address the attempts of atheist to dismiss God complete on this single issue. In the end, theodicy is the only path to possibly address the problem of evil from a theistic

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