A religious explanation and justification for social inequality and social deprivation, explaining the marginalization (or disprivilege) of believers, often used as a test of …faith with the promises of compensating rewards in a future after death. http://politybooks.com/browne/students/glossary/#t (MORE)
http://www.philosophyonline.co.uk/pages/irenaean.htm = The 'Irenaean theodicy' comes in two parts. The first stems from St Irenaeus who thought that humanity was not created… perfect, but that they required growth in order to approach spiritual perfection. However, God does not necessarily intend evil to provide a means for this growth (i.e. by providing challenging situations), for a person could grow to spiritual perfection simply by obeying God's laws. Also, from Irenaeus's point of view, God does not intervene in human affairs to prevent evil because that would be to interfere with free will. The philosopher John Hick (b.1922) has developed this view further. Hick agrees with Irenaeus that God created us with the potential for spiritual growth. However, Hick then sees the process of 'soul making' (as he calls it) to be a response to the evil in the world. So, if cancer did not exist, or the evil actions of others, then we would not have the means whereby we could develop spiritually. Also, Hick argues, there exists what he terms an 'epistemic distance' between human beings and God, so that we are not born knowing of his existence, and it is not something which it is easy to gain certain knowledge of. Therefore, the process of soul making also involves a battle to attain religious faith. Two further consequences of Hick's theodicy should be borne in mind here: firstly, because some individuals do not seem to have opportunity to develop spiritually (e.g. in the case of infant death), Hick argues that we must bring the possibility of an afterlife into the equation (so that such soul's receive a heavenly reward); secondly, because there is such a great amount of evil in the world, and not all suffering seems fair or understandable, we must finally admit that we cannot fully understand God's reasons or His plan. (MORE)
Theodicy is the theological study of the "problem of pain" as CS Lewis put it. Its looking into the question of why there is pain and suffering in the world, especially if the…re is a good God. (MORE)
He read the questions through his Christological emphasis-- Christ as God's response to the human questions of theodicy. Specifically for Barth, this takes the form of the cro…ss. This is God's answer. God enters, through his Word, into the human question of theodicy by becoming "the death of God himself." This emphasis is also linked to revelation as God's response of "yes" to humanity's "no". In our rejection of God, God responds, and that response is not what it should be. Instead it is the surprise of God's acceptance of us in the face of our refusal of him. Finally, Barth would emphasize the "Godliness of God" and the infinite qualitative difference between God and the world, and between the Creature and the creator as the context in which questions of theodicy are always raised. What is articulated in questions of theodicy, is at its fundamental basis, about this difference between God and the world. This difference cannot be overcome by human self-striving, and therefore the limits to our ability to comprehend an answer to the questions raised by theodicy-- what is required is a revelation that comes from outside this world-- from God himself. And for Barth, this event of revelation happens in the Word-- Christ. (MORE)
Theodicy in religion means to attempt to resolve the evidential problem of evil by reconciling the divine characteristics of omnipotence, omniscience and onmibenevolence with …the occurrence of evil or suffering in the world. (MORE)