John Hick's Version of Irenaeus' Theodicy

John Hick's Version of Irenaeus' Theodicy

1. suggested humans are created in the image of God but as they are spiritually immature they need to grow into the likeness of God, which then enables them to have a relationship with God

2. suggested that we were made at a distance from God- a distance of knowledge- an epistemic distance

   • moral evil was the result of our having the freedom to grow and develop into a child of God

3. in the Irenaean theodicy people only become made in the image of God after death, and so Hick suggests that, at death, some of us will proceed into heaven

   • Hick's theodicy has an eschatological aspect; those who have not completed their development will continue their soul-making journey after death but may then enter the kingdom of heaven
     • then supports universal salvation- he doesn't believe in hell