Irenaeus’ Theodicy Table
Knowledge & Understanding Critical Assessment
Irenaeus – Free will is the key to his theodicy. o The concept of Heaven for all seems unjust, Irenaeus’ view
God’s aim when he created the world was to make that everyone will go to Heaven has attracted criticism
humans flawless, in His likeness. because it doesn’t seem fair and therefore calls God’s justice
Genuine human perfection cannot be ready-made, but into question.
must develop through free choice.
Since God had to give us free choice, He had to give us Religious People – Contradicts religious texts such as the Bible and
potential to disobey Him. Qur’an which promise punishment for the
There would be no such potential if there were never any unrighteous.
possibility of evil. If humans were made ready-perfected, It makes moral behaviour pointless; if everyone is to be
and if God policed His world continually, there would be rewarded with Heaven, what is the point of going out of
no free will. our way to do good?
Therefore, the natural order had to be designed with the Left with no incentive to make the development that
possibility of causing harm, humans had to be imperfect, Irenaeus regarded as so important because we know that
and God had to stand back from his creation. it will happen eventually.
Humans used their freedom to disobey God, causing Parable of the Prodigal Son – Those who have lived good
suffering. lives in obedience to God are like the elder son and those
God cannot compromise our freedom by removing evil. who have lived unfaithful and sinful are like the younger
Eventually, however, evil and suffering will be overcome son. The father in the story makes it clear that everything
and everyone will develop into God’s likeness, living in he has already belongs to the eldest son and he is not
glory in Heaven. This justifies temporary evil. losing out through the readmission of the younger son
Unlike Augustine he admitted that God is partly to blame back into the family, which is symbolic of Heaven.
for evil and his responsibility extends to creating humans
imperfectly and making it their task to develop into o Quantity and gravity of the suffering seems unfair; we might
perfection. accept from the counterfactual hypothesis that the process of
The idea is based upon Irenaeus’ interpretation of ‘soul making’ could not take place in paradise.
Genesis 1:26 – “Let us make man in our image after our o Does our world, however, need to contain the extent and
likeness.” severity of suffering found in events such as the Holocaust.
Irenaeus concluded that at first humans were made in o Voltaire argues that we should spend our lives eating,
Knowledge & Understanding Critical Assessment
Irenaeus – Free will is the key to his theodicy. o The concept of Heaven for all seems unjust, Irenaeus’ view
God’s aim when he created the world was to make that everyone will go to Heaven has attracted criticism
humans flawless, in His likeness. because it doesn’t seem fair and therefore calls God’s justice
Genuine human perfection cannot be ready-made, but into question.
must develop through free choice.
Since God had to give us free choice, He had to give us Religious People – Contradicts religious texts such as the Bible and
potential to disobey Him. Qur’an which promise punishment for the
There would be no such potential if there were never any unrighteous.
possibility of evil. If humans were made ready-perfected, It makes moral behaviour pointless; if everyone is to be
and if God policed His world continually, there would be rewarded with Heaven, what is the point of going out of
no free will. our way to do good?
Therefore, the natural order had to be designed with the Left with no incentive to make the development that
possibility of causing harm, humans had to be imperfect, Irenaeus regarded as so important because we know that
and God had to stand back from his creation. it will happen eventually.
Humans used their freedom to disobey God, causing Parable of the Prodigal Son – Those who have lived good
suffering. lives in obedience to God are like the elder son and those
God cannot compromise our freedom by removing evil. who have lived unfaithful and sinful are like the younger
Eventually, however, evil and suffering will be overcome son. The father in the story makes it clear that everything
and everyone will develop into God’s likeness, living in he has already belongs to the eldest son and he is not
glory in Heaven. This justifies temporary evil. losing out through the readmission of the younger son
Unlike Augustine he admitted that God is partly to blame back into the family, which is symbolic of Heaven.
for evil and his responsibility extends to creating humans
imperfectly and making it their task to develop into o Quantity and gravity of the suffering seems unfair; we might
perfection. accept from the counterfactual hypothesis that the process of
The idea is based upon Irenaeus’ interpretation of ‘soul making’ could not take place in paradise.
Genesis 1:26 – “Let us make man in our image after our o Does our world, however, need to contain the extent and
likeness.” severity of suffering found in events such as the Holocaust.
Irenaeus concluded that at first humans were made in o Voltaire argues that we should spend our lives eating,
