Similarities Between Augustine And Irenaeus

The problem of evil in this world poses a significant challenge to theism. There have been several responses from theists of varying religious backgrounds and schools of thought to this problem; in Christianity the two main ones being the theodicies of St Augustine and Irenaeus. A ‘theodicy’ from the greek words ‘theos’ meaning God and dike meaning ‘justice’ literally means a justification of God in response to the problem of evil.

The problem of evil is the apparent inconsistency between God’s qualities and the existence of evil in the world. The Abrahamic concept of God is one who is supposedly omniscient, omnibenevolent and omnipotent. However the questions arise: if God is omnipotent then how can He not be powerful enough to prevent evil? If God is omnibenevolent then why is He not loving enough to prevent evil? Finally, if God is both willing and able to prevent evil, then this indicates He must be unaware of it; thus where is His omniscience? Surely, evil must exist; only yesterday there was the massacre of 129 people in Paris, ironically in the name of God.

Yet what if evil does not actually exist, and is merely a

In Irenaeus’ mind, all humans were created in God’s likeness and image as described in the Bible however although we possess the same qualities as God, there is a vast difference in quantity. As a result, God created and uses evil as a tool to develop the human being to the point of perfection. Irenaeus believed that we would all eventually achieve heaven whether directly from this life or through the purification of our souls in purgatory but that our actions in this life only dictated the amount of time we will spend there suffering. Arguably, the unfairness of this world does not require compensation through heaven or any other means as the result should be enough in itself; to achieve