Augustine and The Problem of Evil Essay - 886 Words

In the beginning, God created the world. He created the earth, air, stars, trees and mortal animals, heaven above, the angels, every spiritual being. God looked at these things and said that they were good. However, if all that God created was good, from where does un-good come? How did evil creep into the universal picture? In Book VII of his Confessions, St. Augustine reflects on the existence of evil and the theological problem it poses. For evil to exist, the Creator God must have granted it existence. This fundamentally contradicts the Christian confession that God is Good. Logically, this leads one to conclude evil does not exist in a created sense. Augustine arrives at the conclusion that evil itself is not a formal thing, but the†¦show more content†¦This means that both the fish owner also owns a cat, and that God at some point had to create this evil force. Given this light, Augustine’s argument does not stand. However, he includes with his solution the idea that this corruption is not just a material or spiritual transformation, from one kind of existence to another but an erasure, toward nonexistence. (7.12.8) Thus, Augustine merely reframes the problem of good vs. evil as creation vs. uncreation. This realization undermines the necessity of an evil force, source, power or form that is, (i.e. existing as a result of divine creation) because these terms refer to everything that is not. To Augustine, an evil act is one that moves any member of creation towards exclusion from God’s universe. If a being with free will elects to move away from God for a temporal end, they are moving towards corruption or death and unleashing this force on the world around them. Once a body becomes in entirely corrupted it has no existence whatsoever, it is irrelevant to this reality and we can only imagine it based on the imprint left before it was no more. This is the ultimate death; complete exclusion from God’s universe and Augustine contrasts it with the ultimate Good, which is complete inclusion with God’s universe. Once something is outside of God’s universe, it is impossible for it have any effect. (7.13.1)Show MoreRelatedSt. Augustine s The Problem Of Evil1143 Words   |  5 PagesQuestion: Explain how St. Augustine ultimately solves the â€Å"problem of evil† in a way that is compatible with his Christian faith. Be sure to refer in your answer to the two aspects of his solution that we discussed in class- the one centring on the nature of evil itself, the other on why we sin. Do you agree that the problem has been solved adequately? Defend your answer. Introduction: â€Å" Inside each of us there is the seed of both good and evil. 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