Theodicy studies the existence of God from reason.
The area of philosophy that is dedicated to studying God beyond religious faith is known as theodicy . The term comes from the Greek language, being formed with the words theós (which can be translated as "God" ) and díkē ( "justice" ).
Rational study
Theodicy, in this framework, leaves beliefs aside to analyze the existence of God rationally. As the etymology of the concept suggests, the purpose is to justify with arguments that God exists .
The origin of theodicy is located in 1710 , when the German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz published the book “Essay on Theodicy. About the goodness of God, the freedom of man and the origin of evil . In this work , Leibniz points to the justification of divine goodness and the existence of evil, showing that there is no contradiction in the simultaneity of both.
Starting with Leibniz 's essay , the notion of theodicy began to be used to refer to God's rational justification . Theodicy is also associated with rational theology or natural theology , which seeks evidence of the presence of God without appealing to supernatural manifestations.
Science of God
Another way to understand theodicy is as the science of God . This discipline does not resort to revealed truths, but to reasoning.
Theodicy relies on other philosophical branches to prove that God exists, accepting that it is possible to know that which transcends immediate experience and the senses. Admitting the existence of God , theodicy is responsible for the investigation of his attributes and nature .
Augustinian theodicy
As with other fields of knowledge, there is no single form of theodicy. The so-called Augustinian , for example, is one that belongs to Christianity and focuses on providing an answer to the Epicurus paradox (also known as the problem of evil ). In this way, it seeks an explanation for the possible existence of a God who has absolute supremacy and who always cares about the well-being of others, taking into account that we cannot deny the presence of evil in our world.
Since its creation, this type of theodicy has gone through different variations, although they generally have in common the affirmation that the goodness of God is unquestionable, that the world was created without evil, and that evil arose because of our original sin. . In other words, those who support these theories usually explain the appearance of evil as a divine punishment for our actions and for not using free will correctly. God, according to Augustinian theodicy, bears no responsibility for our suffering.
Saint Augustine believed in the material existence of hell.
The first theodicy is due to Saint Augustine of Hippo , a philosopher, theologian and writer dedicated to Christianity. His position opposed the existence of evil as part of God's creation, since he considered it the result of corrupting goodness by abusing free will. He also supported the existence of hell as a material place to which sinners are sent to receive their just punishment, unless they repent and accept being saved by Jesus Christ. Saint Augustine believed that sin is a possibility because we have free will, and that babies inevitably inherit original sin.
The influence of Saint Augustine can be seen in the work of Saint Thomas Aquinas , whose theodicy is very similar. Regarding evil, he maintained that it can only be accepted when it is necessary to give rise to good. John Calvin also started from Augustine's theory, and added that human beings need divine grace to lead a life adjusted to morality. While he argued that God bears responsibility for evil, he agreed that he had not created it arbitrarily but as part of the infinite possibilities he had given us.