The ancient philosopher Irenaeus of Lyon (130-202) is also known as Saint Irenaeus. He lived in Southern France at a time when Christians were persecuted by the pagan Roman Empire. Irenaeus became the Bishop of Lyon after his predecessor was martyred for refusing to give up his Christian faith. These experiences shaped Irenaeus' views of suffering as a test and a way of improving people's souls. The book that Irenaeus wrote on this (On the Monarchy of God) has been lost, so we only know Irenaeus' views from what later writers said about him. The so-called "Irenaean Theodicy" was identified and named by John Hick in his 1966 book Evil & the God of Love. Hick contrasts Irenaeus' views with the later theodicy of Augustine of Hippo. The Irenaean theodicy is also known as a soul-making theodicy.
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Irenaeus bases his theodicy on the first chapter of Genesis, but rather than focusing on the creation of the world, he looks specifically at God's creation of humans. The Bible describes God's intention with this phrase:
Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness' - Genesis 1: 26 Some translations say "in our image, to be like us". For Irenaeus, this means God's creation of humanity comes in two steps or phases, one which is already complete and another which is still taking place:
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Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me - John 14: 6
Origen was was Christian philosopher who lived in Egypt, shortly after Irenaeus' career. Origin was one of the most imaginative and insightful Bible scholars of his age (or any other) but many of his ideas were so imaginative they ended up offending the beliefs of rather more mainstream Christians. This is why Irenaeus is Saint Irenaeus, but Origen never got to be a saint.
Origen seems to have come up with a theodicy similar to Irenaeus', but probably independently. Origin argues that God is like a physician (doctor) and the world is a "Hospital of Souls". A doctor causes pain to his patients in order to cure them of a disease; God either causes or allows suffering in order to cure humans of sin: |
Everything that comes from God that seems to be bitter is advanced for instruction and healing. God is a physician - Origen
The 19th century Protestant theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher was one of the first people to re-visit Irenaeus' (or perhaps we should say Origen's) soul-making theodicy. Schleiermacher rejected Augustine's soul-deciding theodicy because it seemed impossible to him that an omnipotent God would create beings who would go wrong; therefore the evil and the suffering in the world must be part of God's purpose. Schleiermacher believed that the central point of faith was to have total DEPENDENCE on God - to rely on God utterly rather than on yourself or other humans. Suffering can teach us to do this.
Schleiermacher believed that eventually, everyone become dependent upon God and enter Heaven: |
all belonging to the human race are eventually taken up into loving fellowship with Christ - Friedrich Schleiermacher
YES
The idea of the creation of human souls as a two-step process solves the major problem of evil, which is that God seems to be cruel or punitive (punishing). Irenaeus' theodicy gives a positive value to suffering and shows why a good God might allow it.
Irenaeus can be seen as someone who "started the ball rolling". His ideas were picked up by Schleiermacher and developed into a complete and detailed theodicy by John Hick. These ideas are a challenge to the standard Augustinian Theodicy and to a lot of traditional Christian thinking, but they preserve the goodness of God and his loving intentions for the human race.
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NO
Irenaeus' theodicy is fragmentary at best. Many of his key ideas (such as souls being annihilated in Hell) are not accepted by the majority of Christians. Origen's theodicy also contains unacceptable ideas (like pre-existence and universalism).
The Irenaean Theodicy, in any of its forms, suggests that God inflicts suffering for his own ends, which is immoral. Even if God is like a physician or a teacher, he is still allowing human beings to suffer for his goals, not for theirs. Moreover, the Evidential Problem of Evil reminds us that the sheer scale of suffering on Earth goes beyond anything that might be expected to "do us good".
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