THE THEODICY OF THE ABSENCE OF A THEODICY. THE PROBLEM OF EVIL IN J. HICKS THOUGHT

The aim of this paper is to present main strands of the John Hick's response to the problem of evil. The author starts with contrasting the rudiments of the traditional theodicy (of St. Augustine and Leibniz) with the essential ideas of St. Irenaeus, by whom John Hick's thought was mainly inspired. Then he compares such components of Hick's theodicy as epistemological distance, soul-making process and universal salvation with some thoughts of non-analytical philosophers as Franz Rosenzweig, Józef Tischner, or Viktor E. Frankl. He also analyses main objections to irenaean type of theodicy raised on the ground of contemporary analytical philosophy of religion. Finally, the author considers Hick's view to be one of the most interesting approaches to the problem of horrendous evil in the history of theodicy.