Augustine's Theodicy
Summary
Augustine's theodicy attempts to explain how an all-good, all-powerful God can coexist with evil. His key claim is that evil is not a positive thing but rather privatio boni (the absence or privation of good)—like blindness is not a thing but the absence of sight, or darkness is not a thing but the absence of light. Evil arose when humans, created with free will, chose to turn away from God and disobey Him in the Fall of Adam and Eve. This original sin corrupted human nature, causing all subsequent humans to inherit both the guilt of Adam's sin and the consequences (suffering, death, pain). Natural evil (earthquakes, disease) results from living in a fallen, corrupted world. God is not responsible for evil because He did not create it—humans created it through their misuse of free will.
Privatio Boni: Evil as the Absence of Good
The Central Concept
Augustine's most distinctive contribution is the idea of privatio boni (Latin: "privation of good"). Evil is not a positive thing in itself but rather the absence, lack, or diminishment of good. It is a privation—a deficiency or corruption of something that is good.
Augustine's Famous Quote:
"Evil has no positive nature; but the loss of good has received the name 'evil.'"
Analogies to Understand Privatio Boni
Blindness
- Blindness is not a "thing" in itself
- It is the absence of sight
- To cure blindness, we don't remove a substance; we restore what was lacking
Darkness
- Darkness is not a positive entity
- It is the absence of light
- Turn on a light, and darkness disappears—there's nothing to remove
Disease/Sickness
- Health is a positive good state
- Disease is the absence or corruption of health
- When someone becomes sick, health (a good) is diminished
Why This Matters
If evil is merely the absence of good, then God is not responsible for creating evil. God created only good things. Evil arose when creatures departed from God, when they stopped participating in God's goodness. God didn't create the evil; the creature's turning away from God created the evil.
The Doctrine of Original Sin and The Fall
The Story
According to Genesis (interpreted literally by Augustine), God created:
- The world perfect and good
- Humans (Adam and Eve) with perfect nature, perfect will, and perfect knowledge
- Humans with free will—the ability to choose good or evil
The Fall
Adam and Eve, despite being perfect, chose to disobey God and eat from the forbidden tree. This was the first sin—humanity's first turning away from God.
The Consequences
After the Fall:
- Humans became guilty (culpable for sin)
- Humans became corrupted (their will became inclined toward evil)
- All of humanity inherited Adam's sin (because all humans descended from Adam)
- Death entered the world as punishment for sin
- Natural evil (suffering, disease, pain) emerged as humans lived in a fallen world
Augustine's Seminal Theory
Augustine argued that all humans were seminally present in Adam's loins—meaning all humans were somehow present in Adam. When Adam sinned, all humanity sinned with him.
Therefore, all humans inherit: original guilt (responsibility for Adam's sin) and original corruption (our wills are inclined toward evil). This explains why humans are born with a tendency to sin and why suffering is universal.
The Role of Free Will
Why Free Will Is Essential
God gave humans free will because a world with free creatures choosing good is better than a world with robots programmed to choose good. Free will is valuable precisely because it makes evil possible. Without the possibility of choosing evil, there would be no genuine free choice.
The Logical Point
It's logically impossible to create beings with free will who are guaranteed never to sin. Free will means the genuine ability to choose otherwise. Therefore, if God created beings with free will, evil was always a logical possibility.
God Is Not Responsible for Evil Choices
When humans misuse their free will, that is their choice, not God's action. God gave the free will; humans chose how to use it. Blaming God for the misuse of free will is like blaming a knife maker for a murder committed with a knife.
Natural Evil and the Fallen World
What About Natural Evil?
Natural evil (earthquakes, disease, animal suffering) cannot be blamed on human free will. Augustine's explanation:
- Direct cause: The fallen world itself is corrupted by the Fall
- Indirect cause: Natural evil may result from demonic action (Satan and fallen angels act to cause harm)
- Punishment: Natural suffering is a just punishment for sin, experienced by all because all humans share in Adam's guilt
The Corruption of Nature
When Adam fell, not just human nature but all of nature became corrupted. The world Augustine observes is not God's perfect creation but a fallen, degraded version of it. This explains predators, disease, natural disasters—they're features of a corrupted world, not God's original design.
The Problem of the Origin of Evil
Augustine's Puzzle
Even with the free will defense, there's a remaining problem: Why did Adam, created perfect, with a perfect will and perfect knowledge, choose to sin in the first place? If Adam was truly perfect, how could he go wrong?
Augustine's Solution: Evil as Incomprehensible Nothingness
Augustine argues that the origin of evil is incomprehensible. Evil is not a thing (remember: privatio boni), so it has no positive nature. You cannot explain the origin of nothing—nothing has no explanation.
Augustine's Quote:
"Sin is a defective movement, and a defect comes from nothing. That which is nothing cannot be known."
Since evil is the absence of good (a negation, not a positive thing), asking "Why did evil originate?" is like asking "Why did the absence of light originate?" when the sun went down. The absence of light needs no explanation—it's what you get when light is removed.
Criticism of This Solution
Many philosophers argue this leaves Augustine's theodicy incomplete. If we can't explain why Adam sinned, how can we fully justify God's creation of a world where Adam would sin?
Strengths of Augustine's Theodicy
- ✓
Addresses the Logical Problem
Plantinga developed Augustine's free will defense into a response to Mackie's logical problem. Many philosophers now believe the logical problem has been successfully addressed.
- ✓
Coherent Explanatory Framework
Augustine provides a unified explanation for why evil exists (free will, the Fall), why it's universal (original sin), and why natural evil exists (fallen world).
- ✓
Emphasizes Human Responsibility
Evil results from human choice, not divine action. This respects human autonomy and moral accountability.
- ✓
Compatible with Christian Doctrine
The Fall, Original Sin, and Redemption through Christ are central Christian beliefs. Augustine's theodicy integrates naturally with Christian theology.
Criticisms and Problems
Criticism 1: The Privatio Boni Concept Is Philosophically Problematic
The Objection: Evil doesn't seem like a mere absence of good. Child cruelty isn't just the "absence of child care"—it's something actively wrong and malicious. Murder isn't just the "absence of life"—it's an active harm.
Peter Vardy's Criticism: "There is no way to justify dysteleology or excess suffering. Evil seems to be more definite than a mere 'privation of good' for example Child cruelty is not just the lack of Child support and care, it is something more intrinsically bad."
Criticism 2: The Biblical Fall Conflicts with Modern Science
Augustine's theodicy relies entirely on a literal interpretation of Genesis. But Genesis conflicts with:
- The Big Bang Theory (accepted cosmology)—the Fall narrative doesn't fit with cosmic evolution
- Darwin's Theory of Evolution (accepted biology)—the instantaneous creation of Adam and Eve contradicts evolutionary biology
If Genesis is not literally true, then the doctrine of Original Sin is undermined. If Original Sin is false, Augustine's entire theodicy collapses.
Criticism 3: The Problem of Infants and Original Sin
Augustine argues that all humans inherit original sin, including infants who haven't made any choices. Is it fair for infants to be guilty for Adam's sin? Augustine's response—that infants were "seminally present" in Adam—remains deeply troubling to many.
Criticism 4: Excessive and Gratuitous Evil
Even if some evil is necessary for free will and soul-making, why is there so much evil? Why is suffering so intense, so frequent, so purposeless in many cases? Augustine doesn't adequately address the evidential problem of evil—that the sheer quantity and intensity of suffering seems incompatible with God's goodness.
Criticism 5: Dostoevsky's Objection
Fyodor Dostoevsky, in his novel The Brothers Karamazov, argues that even if free will justifies some evil, the intensity and extent of evil (especially child suffering) is unjustifiable.
Dostoevsky's Position: "Evil which is created by free will is so extreme that the problem of evil cannot be overcome. God is either malevolent or doesn't exist."
Criticism 6: The Incomprehensibility Problem
Augustine claims the origin of evil is "incomprehensible"—it's a defect from nothing. But if something is truly incomprehensible, how can we use it to defend God? If we don't understand why Adam sinned, how can we justify God creating a world where Adam would sin?
Scholarly Perspectives
"Evil has no positive nature; but the loss of good has received the name 'evil.' In the same way that blindness is the privation of sight in an eye which is naturally sighted, deafness is the privation of hearing in an ear which is naturally capable of hearing, so every corruption is simply the privation of some good."
"This is the very definition of man: a being with free will. For this is our great prerogative. Without the ability to choose against God, man could not, and therefore would not, choose to obey Him. And were man not free to disobey, neither would his obedience nor his love for God be worthy of acceptance."
Key Takeaways
- ✓Augustine developed the first major Christian theodicy
- ✓Privatio boni: evil is the absence or privation of good, not a substance God created
- ✓Like blindness (absence of sight) or darkness (absence of light)
- ✓Evil originated when Adam and Eve, exercising free will, chose to disobey God
- ✓Original sin: all humans inherited both guilt and corruption from Adam
- ✓Free will is valuable because it makes genuine moral choice possible
- ✓God is not responsible for evil—humans' misuse of free will created it
- ✓Natural evil results from living in a fallen, corrupted world
- ✓The origin of the first evil act (Adam's sin) is incomprehensible
- ✓Augustine's theodicy addresses the logical problem of evil
- ✓Major criticisms: privatio boni seems inadequate, conflicts with science, doesn't address evidential problem
- ✓Dostoevsky argued that even free will doesn't justify the extent of suffering
- ✓Augustine integrates naturally with Christian theology (Fall, Original Sin, Redemption)