Outline The Irenaean theodicy

Outline The Irenaean theodicy
The purpose of this essay is to outline The Irenaean theodicy and what he believed was the purpose for evil and suffering in detail with some strengths and weaknesses, the essay will also include modern theodicies which were devised by Swinburne and another by Hick.
Irenaeus was a bishop and a philosopher who lived between the years of 130-202 which was before the time of the other philosopher Augustine. Irenaeus lived at a time when Christianity was new and he was able to put his believes into holy books as he helped form the New Testament in the Bible. Irenaeus had a theodicy that believed that there was a purpose for evil and suffering in our lives and this was because we were all born imperfect and through our lives we each develop into perfection because we go through two stages which are that we are born in Gods image and we then grow and develop through our lives into Gods likeness when we are in heaven and all the suffering that a person has endured in their life will be overcome because they have completed the full development throughout their lives which is then known as the completion of Gods creation.
One key concept which Irenaeus tried to disprove is the idea of the inconsistent triad which is that if God is omnipotent and omnibenevolent then suffering would not exist because he supposed to be all loving and if he was powerful enough he would be able to get rid of the existence of suffering. This is why Irenaeus said that God had a reason for this suffering which was the concept of soul-making.
Irenaeus believed that suffering was necessary for us to live and it helps all of us as individuals grow and develop as people because it is soul-making   as it was part of Gods plan for humanity when he made as it also helps us to live consciously with God which is why he allows suffering to exist in the world. God is an epistemic distance from us which means that he was created to watch over us and make sure that we grow...